


Incidental Attractions

by Deadrence



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Fluff, Pain, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Torture, character death (its dbd guys), general cheesiness, gross amounts of affection, im sorry, implied suicidal ideation, predatory behavior by gross randos, some cannon divergence bc of the presence of my oc, the entity being the entity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2019-08-26 17:27:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 60,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16685944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deadrence/pseuds/Deadrence
Summary: The toll from losing countless children is beginning to take its effect on Anna, but one day she meets a strange woman who wanders into her territory, injured and in need of her help. She decides to stay with Anna, and they begin to grow closer together. They rely on each other for survival and comfort in the harsh Russian forest.When a mysterious fog rolls in after a tragedy, what will this mean for the two of them?





	1. Intruder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoooo Boy I can't believe I finished this. Hi there! I did my best to make sure any Russian phrases are accurate, and if an English translation isn't incorporated into the chapter then I will leave an end note~
> 
> Enjoy!

*****

It was an icy and frigid day in the Red Forest. The snow seemed to endlessly fall, providing a pale white blanket that lay across the land. Anna had taken to waiting for the sun to fully arise before starting her hunt for the day, both for the warmth and increased visibility once the snowfall had started to slow as a result.

_It was going to be another hard winter, she thought._

Looking through the hazed glass of a window in her cabin for quite some time, she waited until she was finally able to detect trees at a distance through the snowstorm for longer than a half-hour at a time. When this time had come, she decided that it was safe enough to finally leave. Even though she had a small stockpile of food, she needed to start hunting while she still could. She didn’t know when she would be able to hunt again. She wouldn’t travel too far away from her home, just in case the snow started once again.

Putting on several layers of thick, scavenged clothing, including a pair of patched gloves, scarves, and a pair of big boots, she moved over to a cabinet near the entrance of her dwelling. She opened the very top drawer, which held her favorite item in the world: a hare mask that her mother made for her when she was a child. Anna gently put the mask over her head, pulling the attached veil out of the way and behind her so that it fell around her shoulders. She never left her home without at least one mask on. It would also help give her face some protection from the bitter winds, so she saw no reason not to wear it.

She grabbed a few hunting hatchets from the bottom drawer of the aged cabinet and put them on her belt. Once they were secure, she took the great broad axe down from its perch before heading out the jagged door, making sure it was closed with a good shove.

Anna took off in the direction of the trees she had marked beforehand, so she could easily find her way back in case the worst-case scenario happened and the snow started to heavily cascade down upon the land once again.

An hour or two into her hunt had not yielded much else but a few rabbits and a fox. The snow had started to fall again, and she was just about to head back in the direction of her cabin when she heard a noise to her left.

It was from a distance, but she moved to hide behind the nearest tree anyway, concealing herself from whatever had made the noise. She slowly started to peer around the trunk of the tree. A few meters away, she saw a girl covered in snow, leaning against a tree. She was using the left side of her arm against the tree for support, with her other hand holding her right side. The woman was hunched over and appeared to be breathing heavily. 

Anna could not see her face, but the woman was clearly not dressed warmly enough for this weather. She had a tattered blanket of sorts wrapped around her, a light jacket, and a scarf around her thick black hair, but not much else.

 The Huntress had started to kill anyone who came close to her territory, more-so out of her own safety than anything else. Men who wandered near her cabin and eventually saw her masked figure would run away as soon as they did. The same man would be back the next day with more men, armed with muskets and blades. She did not understand why they wanted to attack her, but they did. 

But this girl did not seem to be hunting anything; she had no visible weapons on her. The Huntress looked closer and saw that she was actually bleeding from her abdomen. Her heart twinged. This woman was not a child, but she would most likely die if Anna chose to do nothing.

The Huntress concealed herself once more. She thought for a few seconds, then set down her axe and kills for the day against the tree she had hid behind. She stepped out into the open and started slowly approaching the woman, who had not moved from her position.

When she was a few feet away and the woman still had not noticed her presence, Anna spoke. 

“Ne nádo boyát'sya,” she stated. She did not know what language this woman spoke, but Anna knew a few different ones thanks to her mother’s teachings.

The woman jumped back as she looked up at her. As she did, she immediately folded over as she cried out in pain, holding her abdomen even tighter. She looked back up at her after a few seconds, breathing laboriously. Anna had already raised her hands in a submissive manner to try to convey that she meant no harm to the girl. For the split second that Anna saw her face, she caught bruising on the woman’s jaw and around one of her blue-green eyes, along with several other cuts on her face.

“I’m.. sorry. I don’t understand…” the woman breathed. She seemed to have trouble catching her breath and was shivering viciously.

“Do not be afraid,” Anna repeated. _So, the woman spoke English, she thought._ Anna was rusty with the language. It was not her mother tongue and even then, she hardly spoke it out here. She had been alone most of her life after her mother had passed away, so speaking at all when she needed to was a little challenging for her. “I am sorry I scared you.”

“It was.. it was just the mask.”

Anna didn’t even think about the fact that she still had her mask on. No wonder they had the reaction they did. She carefully removed her mother’s mask and held it close to her, clutching it with both hands against her chest.

“Sorry. My… My name is Anna.” 

“Mine is…Mariya” she said between breaths. 

“You are freezing, and I see you are hurt,” Anna said, looking down at the red stains on her clothes. “My home is not too far, please let me give help to you.” She knew that sounded wrong but couldn’t remember how to say it. 

The woman understood and nodded, although she said, “I don’t think I can walk any farther.”

“I can carry you,” Anna offered. She figured that’s what she would have to do anyway. 

“Yeah, okay,” Mariya said weakly.

The Huntress walked over to her and took off her own coat. She draped it over the shivering girl’s thin, permeated jacket. _What happened to her? she wondered._ Anna put her mask back on so she could free her hands. 

“Ready?” Anna asked.

The girl nodded and took a deep breath. Anna carefully placed one arm below her knees and the other to her back and lifted her up, holding her close to her chest. Mariya clasped her hands together behind Anna’s neck for support.

The girl had cried out again, but not as loudly as last time. She was definitely going to check out her wound when she got back to the cabin. The Huntress looked over to the tree she had hid behind. She would have to come back for her hunt later.


	2. A Close Call

*****

It was a good sign that the girl was still awake by the time they got back to her cabin, though she looked utterly exhausted and all too pale. Anna had to awkwardly shift the way she was holding Mariya in order to open up the door. Once inside, she closed the door with her foot and walked over to the fireplace. She gently placed the girl on the ground in front of it. She was still shivering, which was a relief. Anna had learned early on that once someone stopped shivering, it was too late.

She went to quickly grab more blankets to give to Mariya. Setting them down near her, she went to go put a few more logs on the fire. Thankfully, it hadn’t burned out. Once the fire had been tended to, she walked back over to check on the girl. Her eyes had closed but she was still breathing.

Anna kneeled and gently rubbed the girl’s arm. Her skin was icy to the touch. “Mariya?”  

 _“Hng?”_ was the only response as she furrowed her eyebrows in displeasure.

“You have to stay awake until you warm up.”

“I’m so tired…”

“I know you are, but if you don’t stay awake, you will die.” _Silence._ “Hey...”

A few seconds and still no response, she started rubbing the girl’s arm again, this time with a little more force. Anna didn’t want to take any chances by leaving her alone any longer than she absolutely had to. 

A groan. _This was going to be challenging, Anna thought._

“Okay, okay…Just don’t leave me.”

“I wasn’t going to.” Anna grabbed one of the folded blankets and asked Mariya to lift up her head. They did, and she slid the thick, quilted blanket underneath to give her head some support. Anna thought that a good way of making sure she stayed awake was to check on her wound. She draped the other blanket partially over Mariya, leaving her abdomen uncovered.

“I’m going to check your wound now, alright?” Anna stated.

“Okay…” the girl said meekly.

She pulled away some more of the blanket and unzipped the girl’s jacket. She gently started peeling her clothing away from the red stain to see if the fabric was stuck or otherwise frozen to her skin. It wasn’t.

 _“Ow!”_ Mariya wailed.

“I know, but I need to check it.”

She then did the same with her shirt. Once Anna was able to see the wound, she took in a breath. It was sealed over with flaps of skin, but it was oozing, red, and swollen. It looked as though something had cut into her abdomen and got infected. The wound itself didn’t look that deep, so the girl didn’t lose too much blood. It didn’t look horribly infected either; it only looked to be a few days old. She’s seen this kind of infection before.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t fall asleep!” Anna said as she covered up her wound with the blanket.

“I won’t.”

Anna quickly stood up and hurriedly walked to the place where she kept her medicine and herbs. Instead of messing with the supplies, she quickly brought over everything she knew she would need. She also brought a basin of water and a few clean rags.

“Still with me?”

“Yes.” The girl had finally opened up her eyes. A good sign. “How bad is it?” she asked softly.

“Um. It’s not terribly, uh, infected.” Anna let out a low sound of frustration as struggled to remember the word.

“ _Great_.”

Anna was confused as to why she said it like that but shrugged it off. She worked to grind up a concoction she’d used many times before on herself and on others. Setting it aside, she dipped a rag in the water and dabbed it gently on the girl’s wound to clean it up a little. It looked sealed, but she didn’t want to rub the wound and risk breaking it open again.

Mariya did not make any other noise but the inhalation of breath through her teeth. _This girl is tough, Anna thought._ She knew how badly this hurt, but all things considered, she was taking it really well. It could also be how exhausted she was from who knows how long she spent outside in the snow, but still. Anna applied the concoction over the wound, making sure every last inch was covered with its stickiness.

“I need you to sit up,” she said as she moved to helped Mariya do so. She grabbed some clean rags she had left over and wrapped them around the wound and her abdomen as best she could. “There.” She helped her lay back down and covered her up with the blanket.

“Thank you,” the girl said, offering a weak smile at Anna.

“You’re welcome,” Anna said, a bit taken aback by this. She hadn’t been met with kindness from another human in a long time. Anna resorted to sitting cross-legged near Mariya. She still had to make sure that she didn’t fall asleep for a little while longer.

Now that she had time to actually observe the girl, she noticed that she looked more beat up than she previously thought. She had darkened bruising all over her arms and face, and had other, smaller blood stains that scattered her body.

“Are there any other wounds that I should know of?” Anna inquired.

“That was the biggest one. There’s also one on my left arm,” she said as she slowly pulled it out from underneath the blanket with a wince of pain.

Anna checked that wound and did the exact same procedure that she did with her abdomen. This cut wasn’t infected, but she didn’t want to take any chances. When she finished, she stood up to get a cup out from the cabinet where she held her food and water stockpile. She poured fresh water out of a hefty glass jug and brought it over to Mariya.

“Here, you need to drink.” The girl took the cup with no objections and quickly consumed its contents.

“What happened to you, Mariya?” Anna asked. Aside from the sake of keeping her awake while she warmed up, she was genuinely curious. How did they end up in her territory this injured?

“I, um…ran away from my village after they attacked me. They uh, aren’t very accepting of people who are different than they are. Let’s just say that..”

“I’m sorry,” Anna said. Even though Anna had never known a sense of community, she did understand the feeling of being alone all too well.

“Are you here by yourself?” Mariya asked.

“Yeah… it’s just me. I’ve lived here for as long as I can remember. My mother died when I was a little girl. I never knew who my father was.” Anna’s eyes fell to the ground as she said this. The memory of her mother still made her sorrowful, and she missed her deeply.

Mariya shifted her weight a little so that she was facing Anna more and pulled the blanket up further to her face. She seemed to have recovered a bit of energy after getting some water in her system. “That sounds a lot like what happened to me… My father passed away years ago. My mother and I used to be close but ever since he died we haven’t been on the best of terms…I’m sorry about your mother..” Mariya made a small noise of sympathy.

Anna looked at her. Her eyes held a lot of emotion behind them; sadness, relief, empathy, curiosity, exhaustion. She asked her more about her village, and Mariya answered her questions. She wasn’t from any of the closer villages she knew of by name, as they all spoke Russian only, but she knew about some others that spoke multiple languages. She silently thanked her mother for teaching her those languages all those years ago.

The Huntress and Mariya spoke for a long time about their pasts. It was weird that they were talking about such deeply personal events after just meeting, but Anna felt like she could talk to this stranger, and this woman seemed to not mind confiding in her as well. They talked until Mariya had stopped shivering for a long time and it was clear that she couldn’t stay awake any longer.

When Mariya had fallen asleep, Anna grabbed her cup to refill it. She set it back down near the girl, far enough away that if she moved in the night she wouldn’t knock it over. Anna tended to the fire once again, setting it for the night. She took a brief moment to look at the resting figure below her before moving into the next room to rest on the worn couch. She wouldn’t sleep upstairs in her bed tonight just in case something came up.

Anna contemplated about what had just happened; her mind was racing. It was remarkable that Mariya was even able to make it to her cabin, let alone during a snow storm. Anna knew where the nearest villages were, but Anna’s cabin was deep in the forest, miles away from any of them. This isn’t the first time someone had stumbled into her territory, either: mostly children who had wandered too far from their village and become lost would be found by Anna, and she would try to take care of them; her motherly instincts driving her.

But they never made it. They always either died or ran away, becoming lost to the woods once again. Anna had lived alone for so long and she became increasingly desolate after every lost child. She deeply craved the warmth of a loved one: someone she could take care of, and maybe even someone to take care of her in return. Anna had discovered that taking care of a child alone didn’t completely fill the void in her heart. There was something else missing.

Her loneliness had started to drive her mad. The longer she spent without human contact, the less human she began to really feel. Seeing the very first child that stumbled into her territory woke up something buried deep within her, but with each child lost her sense of humanity began to dwindle again and again. She was always left feeling more empty than the last.

This was the first adult woman who had entered her dwelling, but Anna couldn’t allow herself to get her hopes up. It was unlikely that Mariya would decide to stay after they had healed. Anna had lost so many that this was now her default way of thinking. Still, she did her best to save the girl’s life.

Anna continued to let her thoughts swirl until she eventually let her fatigue consume her.  


	3. A Life

*****

Mariya felt like she had been hit by a ton of bricks. She woke up not knowing where she was. She slowly and carefully sat up, minding the gash in her abdomen. She had a massive, throbbing headache and her whole body hurt like hell. She looked around herself and took in her surroundings, and suddenly the memories came flooding back to her.

Right. She had run away from her village after they beat her once they had found out the truth about her. Her village was so narrow minded and full of hate and judgment. She really couldn’t stand it there. Her mother was the only one who had shown her any support for being who she was, even if it was dangerous to do so. But when her father died, she became like everyone else under the pressure to conform. Full of hate. It hurt Mariya like nothing else had.  

She was no longer welcome at that village, so she took what she could and ran into the forest. There were tales from neighboring villages about a masked beast in the woods who would kill anyone who came close to them, but Mariya didn’t care. She didn’t even know if it was real or where they were. It had been a punishing few days by herself; she had, thankfully, been able to gather enough materials to survive in the wild for a while, but she had to keep moving. To where, she did not know. Anywhere would have been better than staying where she was not safe from her own family and friends.

When the wound in her side was not healing properly, that’s when she had begun to really worry. She kept trudging on, hoping to run into _something; anything_. And she had. Well, it seemed that that something was a woman who lived alone in the woods. Anna, was it?

Mariya looked around again, her eyes resting upon the various tapestries and decorations in the homey cabin. She didn’t see her anywhere. Maybe Anna had left? She noticed that the fire was still crackling with a warm flame, and it had actually looked like someone put more fuel in it recently.

At any rate, she saw no reason to leave this spot. Her wound had been feeling better, but she was in no shape to go anywhere. The trek yesterday had worn her down to the bone. She noticed that the cup from last night was still on the floor, and it had been filled up with more water. Mariya smiled gratefully as she took the cup to drink from it. She made a mental note to thank Anna again when she returned. 

As if on cue, Mariya jumped in surprise as she heard the door swing open. It was her, holding a few rabbits and a large axe in her hands.

“Oh! I’m sorry, did I wake you?” the tall woman asked as she tried to quietly close the door behind her. She was wearing her hare mask again.

“No, no, I woke up just a little bit ago.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re okay. I was a bit worried..” Anna gave her a warm smile.

“I’m feeling better now! Thank you.” Mariya smiled back.

The Huntress put away her hatchets and axe, then took off her mask and gently placed it back in the top drawer.

“I have some food in storage if you are hungry,” Anna said as she turned to face her and took off her gloves. “Or if you want to wait for me to cook what I got today?”

“I’d be glad to have anything. Whatever you want to do is fine with me!”

“Alright. Would you mind if I change your bandages first?”

“Not at all.”

 

 

*****

“Hey, listen, I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You saved my life. Thank you,” Mariya told her, taking a bite into her rabbit stew. Anna was sitting right across from her, with a bowl of her own resting in her lap. 

Anna smiled and told her she was glad to help, but Mariya could have sworn she saw a faint blush form on her cheeks as she looked down at her bowl. Maybe it was her imagination? She shrugged it off. 

Mariya took another look at the woman who had saved her life. She was fairly taller than she was, with broad shoulders and a muscular frame. She had short, choppy brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. They were captivatingly deep, and they reminded her of a dark autumn forest in the evening after a heavy rain. Mariya felt her face get warm and had to stop herself from blushing too hard before Anna would notice. She was also wearing a cream colored sarafan with a leather utility belt which held the hunting hatchets she saw from earlier, and she wore a half torn blue skirt with patterns of flora print that wrapped around most of her waist and almost brushed the ground. Her light blue jeans were worn and had several strips of fabric wrapped on them near the bottom. Mariya also noticed that Anna’s body was covered in scars of various sizes.

She looked down at her own, now tattered and muddied, clothes. She was only wearing a long and simple dark colored skirt and a torn top piece of a hand-me-down dress. It was more like a shirt because of how it fit on her, though. She wondered what it was like to wear jeans, as she had been barred from doing so because her village was very strict about women dressing appropriately.

After a few more bites of her stew, she broke the silence by asking: “How did you get some of your scars, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Anna looked down at her arms as she raised them up, seemingly only now noticing that they were there. “Mostly from hunting or foraging over the years.” As she explained, Mariya also saw that the left corner of her mouth had also been scarred over, and she wondered what had caused it.

“What do you hunt?”

“Anything from rabbits to deer to bears and wolves. Whatever I can find, really.”

“Really? That’s incredible.”

“Years and years of practice. You do what you have to to survive,” she explained, giving a slight shrug of her shoulders. She seemed a bit melancholy at this.

Mariya nodded her head. Another thought came to her. “Anna, there’s a tale that is spreading across the villages of a masked beast in these forests…one who would kill anyone who walks into their territory. But that couldn’t be you, could it? You have been nothing but kind to me since you found me.”

Anna looked down at the ground sadly. “ _Hm_. The local villagers are scared of me for some reason. I do sometimes kill people who come here, but not for no reason. Those who come usually try to harm me…” She poked at her food. “They invade my home.”

“Well that’s completely different from the tales,” Mariya said. “But, then again, of course it is. People in the villages have no reason or empathy. They fear what they do not understand. _Hmpf_.”

“You aren’t afraid of me?” Anna asked, looking up at her curiously.

“No? Why would I be? Like I said, you’ve been nothing but kind to me. I don’t blame you for defending yourself.”

“I’m glad.” The Huntress gave a sigh of relief. She became nervous when Mariya mentioned the tale. She didn’t want to be feared by Mariya. She was, after all, a strange woman who lived alone in the woods. Her family hadn’t been welcomed by the villages, either, though Anna didn’t know why. Her mother driven into her that she had to stay in the forest for her own safety. So, she did.

They sat in silence while they finished their meals.

  

 

*****

Later that evening, Anna sat down by Mariya. She brought a stack of books in her arms that she had laying around the cabin that had been her mother’s. She had novels, children’s stories, historical books, and others. A few of them she found from scavenging in abandoned areas. Of course, she also had a few language learning books, but those wouldn’t be interesting.

“I’m not sure if you can read these, but if you wanted to look at them? I thought you might be, um, bored,” Anna offered.

“ _Hm_. I can’t speak or read anything other than English, but maybe you could read one to me? If you wanted to, I mean.”

Anna perked up as soon as she heard this, and she couldn’t hide the smile that grew wide on her face. “I’d love to! Which one looks interesting to you?” She laid down the books she had collected in front of her, turning the covers so that Mariya could see all of them. 

“That one has an interesting cover.”

“Okay, then I can read this one!”

Mariya smiled. It was endearing how happy this simple act made Anna. Mariya enjoyed her enthusiasm.

Anna opened the book and started reading, translating as best she could, and she read until Mariya drifted off to sleep.


	4. All Better

*****

It had been about a month since Mariya had first appeared in Anna’s territory. After the first few days, she was able to get up and start walking around a bit once her infection finally subsided. Anna would let her sleep on the couch or in the spare bedroom, and after a week Mariya had started to help Anna more with cleaning up and other chores, like managing the fire and bringing in firewood from outside. She had urged her to rest, but Mariya was stubborn and felt bad for not doing anything at all – she was starting to feel better anyway. Anna appreciated the extra help. 

Anna had let Mariya try on an extra pair of jeans that she had because she had been curious about them. Her skirt had been torn anyway and needed repairs, but after Mariya had gotten used to the jeans she livened up and told her that she felt much better in them. She hated being forced to dress a certain way for the other villagers, and jeans were much more practical to wear for what she was doing – they didn’t get caught on brush.

They spoke to each other for hours every day. Anna had really started to enjoy Mariya’s company, and Mariya really enjoyed Anna’s. Mariya was really introverted, but she was kind and charming in a sweet way. Anna saw that she was very observant and imaginative, and when she got excited about something, she came to life and her joy was contagious. They talked endlessly about things they were passionate about and their common interests. They also had stuck with the bedtime stories every night, as they had become a traditional way to end the day.

One day while they were eating breakfast at the table, Anna seemed noticeably melancholy. She was staring off into the distance with her head resting in her hand.

“Anna? Are you okay?” Mariya asked.

Anna blinked and looked up at her as if she had been pulled from a trance. She shook her head with a short, quick motion to clear her thoughts. “Yes, I am okay. I was just thinking that if you wanted to leave, I could show you the way to a village…” Her words seemed to hang in the air for a bit.

“Oh. Uh, about that…I don’t really have anything to return to. I’m positive that the other villages won’t accept me, either. Word spreads quickly around.. But if you want me to leave, then I will. I don’t want to be a bother.”

Anna livened up some. “No, no, that’s not it! You aren’t a bother at all; I enjoy your company. Why do you think that they wouldn’t want you?” Anna asked, curiously tilting her head to one side.

Mariya’s cheeks flushed with pink and she looked away in shame. “Um. I don’t want to talk about it right now, sorry...” _It’s not safe enough, she thought._

“Okay. Well, you’re welcome to stay here if you’d like,” Anna offered, smiling warmly at Mariya. The hope in Anna’s heart rekindled.

“If you don’t mind? I can help however I can! I’m also a quick learner!”

 Anna giggled and blushed a bit. “No, I don’t mind!”

“Okay!” Mariya said, excited and happy that Anna had been so willing to share her home with her. Two is better than one, right?

 

 

*****

Anna had taught Mariya the basics of her language, as per her request. Mariya proved to be a sponge, soaking up every lesson and eager to learn more. Mariya would help Anna with her English as well. When spring rolled around the corner, Anna had taught her to identify edible plants and herbs that could be made into medicinal salves, how to set traps, and other basic tools and skills for survival.

They managed their own vegetable garden in the spring and summer and Anna showed her how to plant and take care of the seedlings. She also showed her how to preserve food and cure meat.

The interactions were beneficial for both of them: Anna had never been happier than to have someone to share her knowledge with, and Mariya felt like she could be a part of something greater than herself. Anna stressed the beauty of nature all around her, but also never failed to remind Mariya how dangerous it can become, sometimes in the matter of a few seconds.

“Nature must be respected and revered. Appreciate its beauty and vast bounty while it lasts. You never know when it can change in an instant. Nature is not there for us to use and take and take; we are a part of it.”

Mariya knew what she was referencing. Anna had taken a long time to fully open up about her mother, but when she did, she spoke about her often and about other memories from when she was a child. The story made her heart ache on multiple occasions, and she comforted Anna the best she could when she needed it.

They got along really well for the most part, but Mariya had seen that, after Anna had become more comfortable around her, she tended to have a short temper and had some trouble managing her emotions. She understood why, but the most important thing was that Anna never took anything out on her. She would just leave, and they would talk about whatever had happened later on.

Nevertheless, Anna and Mariya had grown very close during their months spent together. They had begun to really rely on each other for comfort and support in the quiet, harsh forest. Anna eventually noticed that Mariya struggled with sad feelings from time to time, and she would offer comfort and distraction to her whenever those feelings arose. Anna felt bad and tried finding out what was wrong, but Mariya just told her that she couldn’t control it and didn’t know what it was. 

Eventually, Mariya had urged her to teach her how to hunt more skillfully and defend herself from potential dangers. Anna happily agreed, but she would not let her come with her while she was hunting more dangerous prey. She simply did not want to risk something bad happening to her. Mariya objected, saying that when she became more skilled she would want to, but never pried much because she understood Anna’s reasoning.

  

 

*****

The first time Mariya had directly hit the target on the tree with a hatchet, Anna could not have been more proud. They both laughed in excitement and embraced each other tightly for a long time. Anna pulled back from the hug and kissed Mariya on her forehead, cupping her face in her hands while praising her. This made her blush, and Anna chuckled and hugged her even tighter in response, blushing a bit herself.

As time grew on, they did more and more of these little acts. Hugs here and there, the occasional affectionate teasing on small things about each other, playful behavior, surprise gifts, and more. Deep talks which resulted in long hugging sessions were also a common occurrence.

Anna had also loved playing with Mariya’s hair. She would stroke her fingers through her long, dark hair again and again in various methods, entangling her fingers in its soft waves. Mariya adored this simple action; it always soothed and relaxed her. She had taught Anna how to braid her hair, and ever since then it was as though Mariya’s hair no longer belonged to her. Anna loved figuring out different ways and styles of braiding her hair, and Mariya was pleasantly surprised at how creative she got with it.

Anna taught her how to carve wood in return, and Mariya would make little trinkets for Anna. Even though they were crude, Anna always loved receiving them: they always made her heart flare with joy.

Mariya deeply cared for Anna, as did Anna for Mariya. But Mariya had begun to realize that she was beginning to feel more for Anna than was “normal” for a relationship between two women, and she was terrified of Anna not reciprocating her feelings, or worse: even shunning her. So, she kept them to herself. After all, she was deeply traumatized after what happened when her village found out she was interested in more than just men. And although Anna had started becoming more and more affectionate towards her, she wasn’t sure if she would understand.

It was after they finished reading by the fireplace one night that something happened. Anna had laid down next to Mariya instead of heading up to her room like always, and the two looked at each other for a long time, just observing the other. Anna eventually reached out for Mariya’s hand.

“I have something to tell you.”

Mariya could swear her heart stopped right then and there. “Yes, Anna?” 

“I really care about you.”

“I care about you too,” Mariya said, rubbing Anna’s hand with her thumb.

 Anna took a breath. “No, I mean I _really_ care about you; more than I ever thought I could.”

She’d never seen Anna so vulnerable before.

Mariya watched her as she took something out from one of her pouches. As Anna spoke, she opened her calloused palm to reveal a small, dried flower. She continued, “I was hoping that we…” She took a second to collect herself because her voice had gotten caught in her throat, and she was clearly nervous. “I was hoping that we could become.. girlfriends? Is that the word for it? Um, to take you as my mate…” she tried to elaborate. Even in the dim light Mariya could see Anna was blushing profusely. 

Mariya smiled the biggest smile she had ever had, and a huge wave of relief washed over her. She accepted the flower from Anna’s hand and held it close to her. “Yes! I would love to!” she exclaimed. She observed the flower more closely. It was a pale wildflower, though she didn’t know what kind. She would cherish it forever. She looked back up at Anna. “I was worried you didn’t like me that way.”

Anna beamed at her. “I’m so happy! I wasn’t sure how you felt either, but I couldn’t hide it from you any longer.” She paused for a second, thinking. “Um, would you want to start sleeping in my bed with me instead of the couch by yourself? If you’re okay with it, I mean! We can take things slower.” She was blushing again and Mariya thought it was the most endearing thing ever.

Anna had no idea how these things worked; she was only going off of what she read in her mother’s books, but Mariya felt like she could die of happiness just by being with her nonetheless. She started to get up, giggling, “Yes! Come on.” 

They both went upstairs to Anna’s room, now holding hands. Anna allowed her to get under the covers first, then cuddled her from behind. It wasn’t before long that they both drifted off to sleep, safe and secure, entangled in each other’s presence.


	5. Prospect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See end notes for translations

*****

It was a cool, late summer day and Mariya had been picking herbs and edible mushrooms in a patch of clearing near their cabin. It had been almost a year since she first stumbled across Anna and her little section of wild paradise. It was now nearing the beginning of fall, and she and Anna had started making preparations for the inevitable arrival of winter. From what Anna had told her and from her experience last year, winters in the forest were always extremely difficult, more so than in the villages. 

Anna was an exceptionally skilled survivor, but she was grateful to have Mariya there with her. Mariya couldn’t imagine what it was like to do this all alone, let alone for years and years on end. She admired Anna’s determination and will to live despite everything that had happened to her.

She had learned so much from Anna. She had become a skilled survivor herself because of her, and she was able to consistently and successfully hunt and make deadly traps in a pinch. Her Russian had also improved tremendously; she was able to hold a conversation and identify different elements of the land around her with ease. She wasn’t perfect at it yet, but she had time to improve. 

She had also never been happier than while being with Anna. She could finally, completely be her true self and not have to hide anything from her. Not that she felt the need to hide much anyway, but she had been too nervous to tell her how she truly felt about her all those months ago. However, it turned out that she had felt the same. She couldn’t help but to smile at the thought. Anna was always so direct; she wondered how she didn’t see the signs earlier – Anna had always been affectionate towards her and regarded her highly; almost putting her up on a pedestal. The way she smiled at her whenever she saw her and that certain gleam that developed in her eyes should have been all-telling, and her smile only grew once they had made their relationship official. 

Anna seemed to be just as happy, if not even more so than her. Even though romance and romantic relationships were still foreign to her and she didn’t quite know what she was doing all of the time or how best to express her feelings, she relied on what she had read in books, her own understanding of what caring about somebody meant, and she modeled what Mariya did. And oh, did she care about Mariya; for more reasons than just one. Their relationship was unique.

Of course, she wasn’t clueless; she just had never been in a relationship before. It was something that she used to only dream of. She had spent so long just going through the daily, rather dull and automated, motions of her life before Mariya showed up that she forgot what it was like to feel anything at all. Anna was, naturally, a very physically affectionate and loving person, and she was eager to finally show it. It was one of the things Mariya loved about her most; she poured her heart and soul into everything she did. And there wasn’t a damn thing Anna wouldn’t do for her if it meant it would make her happy. 

She happily watched as Anna blossomed into a new person with her, with Mariya undergoing her own positive changes right along with her. Mariya’s village really had been stifling her, and she felt like, with Anna, maybe she could move on from her past. She was convinced that her family had forgotten about her, and she was just glad to be away from them even if it still hurt her. She found herself missing them despite this, but they did her no good and only brought pain. Didn’t she learn that first hand?

Anna, on the other hand, had only ever shown her love and acceptance. Over their months spent together, she unveiled more of herself to Mariya and allowed a certain aspect of vulnerability to seep through her rough exterior that she would have otherwise just kept hidden. Vulnerability was dangerous in the wild; _especially_ while alone. However, Anna was no longer alone, and she trusted Mariya to not hurt her.  

Mariya distractedly rubbed her fingers over one of the herb’s leaves, observing its slightly fuzzy texture before she put it into the basket with the others. She wondered how Anna felt; she was fairly certain that her past would never not haunt her, but she had hoped that she was beginning to heal like she had been. Only time would tell. 

The past had a funny way of showing itself every now and again, however.

As she was finishing up with the last section of herbs, her thoughts were interrupted by a scratchy, rough male voice. A Russian villager. 

“Hey, what’s a pretty lady like yourself doing all alone out here in these woods?” 

Mariya froze. She quickly whistled the tune of a species of bird in the direction of the cabin before turning around to look at the owner of the voice. She and Anna had practiced this a great deal of times just in case this very situation happened; it was a danger signal. The men did not seem to notice that the call was not from a bird, which was good. She had hoped Anna was there to hear it.

“Oh, nothing, just collecting some pretty flowers,” Mariya said innocently, giving them her best sweet smile as she hid the blade she was using behind her back. There were three men that she could see, all armed with muzzle loaders. She knew exactly why they were here, but these were the first men that they had seen in several months. This was her first time facing a group of them alone. Mariya did not bring any weapons with her other than a small blade she used for cutting the mushrooms and herbs, otherwise she may have chosen a different approach with these men.

“Where is your husband? Shouldn’t he know better than to let you run amuck? Haven’t you heard the tales of these woods?”

“Foolish woman,” another voice said.

They all giggled at each other before returning their stares over to her. Mariya did not like the way they were grinning at her. Everything in her body said to get out and leave this area, but she couldn’t do that. Not yet. She didn’t know whether they would decide to shoot her or not. Maybe they would end up leaving her alone and head off in another direction, but running away was a dead giveaway. They would just chase her. She had to play it by ear and buy some time.

“Oh, he’s around,” she said, feigning confidence as the Russian rolled off of her tongue. “I’m sure they’ll be back any minute now.”

_A bird call. Thank god, she thought. I just need a bit more time._

“Say, what if she is the beast?” one voice said as they poked at another man.

_These people really had no reason, she thought._

“But the beast wears a mask. She must be some sorta witch or somethin,’ just look at what she’s wearing!”

“Yeah, I think we just have a trouble maker here, boys,” said the scratched voice as he eyed her up and down. “And you know what we do with trouble makers.” The man took a dangerous step towards her. 

Mariya’s heart rate increased. This was not going good. She cursed herself for not bringing a different weapon. She tightened her grip on the small knife behind her and rubbed its handle: if it needed to come down to it, she would use it before sprinting off. 

Suddenly, a hatchet flew out of the forest and lodged deep in the scratched-voiced man’s temple, killing him instantly and with deadly precision. He fell to the ground with a loud _thud_.

 _“WHAT THE FUCK?!”_ the others screamed, raising their weapons and waving them around wildly in the general direction the hatchet came from. They had no idea exactly where, though.

Mariya took the opportunity. “Oh, please don’t hurt me!” she wailed. The men pointed their guns at her. Another hatchet landed in the skull of another man. The last one whirled back around, but he wasn’t fast enough: his life ended quickly. 

When the men didn’t move for a few seconds, Anna came out from the forest. She ran over to Mariya and hugged her tightly. 

“Are you okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” she asked as she immediately pulled back from the hug to examine her, trying to catch her own breath in the process. Her hands were shaking a bit with nerves, but she moved to cup her face with them anyway.

“No, they didn’t; I’m perfectly fine!” Mariya said as she melted back into the hug. Anna was as equally shaken up from the experience as she was. 

They heard something, and before she could even fully react to it, Mariya became keenly aware of the movement in the corner of her eye.

“Get down!” Mariya yelled. They both dropped to the ground, and the sound of a single gunshot followed. Mariya quickly grabbed a hatchet off of Anna’s belt and without thinking, nailed the unconcealed man in his chest.

He screamed out in pain and fell backwards onto the ground. Mariya whipped back around to check on Anna, who was looking up at her with widened eyes. Her mask had been knocked off of her head. Beside her on the ground it lay, with the tip of one ear broken off.

“I’m okay,” she said before Mariya could ask.

Anna stood back up and ran over to the man. Before he could reach to pick up his fallen gun, she brought her broad axe down upon him to finish the job.

“We should go, I’m not sure if there are any others,” she said as she yanked her axe from the man’s limp body.

Mariya numbly nodded and went over to pick up her basket and the hare mask while Anna took her hunting hatchets and the guns from the men’s bodies. They ran back to their cabin together.

Once inside, they dropped everything onto the floor and stood there holding each other, tears streaming down both of their faces.

“I was so worried about you! When I heard your call, I dropped everything and got to you as fast as I could. I was so scared that they harmed you,” Anna said.

“I know, I’m sorry, but I didn’t want them to hurt you either. I had a feeling they wouldn’t fire at me; I just needed to do something to distract them. You got them though!”

Anna pulled back from the embrace to cup her girlfriend’s face again and smiled warmly at her. “You did as well. You are so brave, dorogaya moya. I am so proud of you.”

Mariya smiled back at her and caressed Anna’s cheek with her hand, rubbing her thumb across the scarred surface lightly. “I’m sorry about your mask, though.” Thankfully, it hadn’t been destroyed, but she knew how much it meant to her. 

“I don’t care about the mask,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Mariya’s heart started to beat quicker in her chest. What would’ve happened if the bullet didn’t just graze her mask? What if she had actually been shot?

What if it had been fatal?

The thought terrified her; she wasn’t sure she would know what to do. She really did not want to think about it for any longer and found herself pulling Anna even closer to her.

They stood there gazing into each other’s eyes for what seemed like forever, swaying slightly side to side in each other’s arms. At some point, Mariya looked down at Anna’s lips, and Anna reacted to this. Her heart racing in her chest, Anna leaned in a little and gently pressed her lips to Mariya’s. When the kiss broke, Mariya pulled Anna’s face closer to hers again and kissed her back tenderly several times, evoking intense emotions from Anna that she never knew she was capable of feeling as her heart fluttered in her chest. She felt warm and tingly, and never so fortunate in her life.

“I love you, Anna,” Mariya murmured.

Anna’s heart gushed with happiness, and tears swelled up in her eyes again. “I love you, too.” She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against Mariya’s, a wide smile across her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "dorogaya moya" - my dear


	6. Under the Weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See end notes for translations

*****

When Mariya awoke, she quickly realized that she had a splitting headache, chills, and a sore throat. She felt like utter garbage. She couldn’t see anything through the dark, but Anna seemed to still be asleep since she still had her arms wrapped around her body like a cocoon. Mariya didn’t want to disturb her by turning around to check, so she just laid there in silence as she felt Anna’s warm, even breaths against her lower neck. There were faint sounds of thunder that she could hear in the distance, and it was a rainy fall dawn out.

She was freezing, so she pulled the blanket up closer to her face and tried going back to sleep. The _pitter-patter_ of rain against the aged wood of their cabin echoed throughout, and she let the somber sound guide her back to sleep.

The next time she stirred, it had been Anna who woke her.

“How’re you feeling, my love? Are you okay?” Anna had a gentle concern in her voice. She held a rag in her hand and was using it to wipe the sweat off of Mariya’s forehead.

“Not so good,” Mariya groaned as she pulled the covers up again, laying them over her face to block out the light. A muffled “I think I’m sick” came from underneath the quilts. 

Anna simply nodded her head in reply as she rubbed her hand over the mound that Mariya was under. “You looked a bit red and your face felt warm, so I wanted to wake you up to make sure you’re okay. Let me get you something to drink.”

Anna barely heard the dampened “thank you.” 

A few moments later she returned, practically bounding up the steps in a few effortless strides. Mariya started sitting up, and she saw that Anna had also brought some food. Anna sat up on the bed right next to her; some of her own food was contained in a cloth pouch that she had brought up as well.

When they were done eating, Mariya went to go lay back down. She gave a vicious shiver and sighed; she was still freezing and her whole body ached. She didn’t feel like moving much.

Anna took the cloth and her cup and kissed the top of her forehead as she left to go back downstairs. When she came back up, she brought a different cup with her in one hand and held another blanket in the other.

“Here, drink this,” she said. “It’s what I make when I get sick.” Anna smiled affectionately at her as she handed the drink to her.

Mariya sat up again so that her head rested against the back of the wall, and she took the mug. It smelled warmly of herbs and other earthy elements. She took a tentative sip. The mixture was strong and slightly bitter, but it wasn’t unbearable. She couldn’t tell what exactly was in it. It seemed to have a bunch of different flavors in it, but she didn’t bother to ask; she was too weak and it didn’t really matter to her. She trusted Anna’s medicines.

As she continually sipped the mixture, Anna crawled onto the other side of the bed and sat right next to her. She unfolded the quilted blanket and draped it over Mariya, which she received with a grateful smile. Anna returned her smile before turning around to reach down near her side of the bed. She picked up a pair of ripped jeans that she had started patching up a few days beforehand, and she also grabbed her box of sewing supplies. She pushed herself further onto the bed to rest her back against the wall and continued her repairs on them. 

When Mariya had finished the medicinal tea, she set the mug down on the makeshift bed stand beside her and curled herself into a comfortable position facing Anna. She watched her work the small needle through the fabric again and again with a rhythmic motion, and she would occasionally turn the fabric to work on a different area. Anna looked at her out of the corner of her eye, a small grin forming on her face. 

Anna made the last stitch and pulled it tight with it with a good tug, tying off the end of the string to finish it. She gave the pair of pants a look over, then folded them and tossed it in the corner of the bed along with the rest of her supplies. She hiked up her body so she could pull the covers out from underneath her, and she laid down under them. Mariya moved closer to her and rested her hand on her stomach while Anna wrapped one arm around her and gently started to stroke her upper arm as they cuddled.

They quietly listened to the heavy rain beating down on the roof of their cabin for a while, but Mariya didn’t find that the sound was enough to help her get some rest.

“Can you sing to me?” Mariya asked her after some time. She always loved it when Anna sang or hummed to her; her voice was very soothing and comforting.

“Of course, dorogaya moya,” Anna said. “Is there any one you wanted to hear?”

“I’m fine with anything, love. I just can’t sleep.”

  

 

*****

They spent most of the day like this, just relaxing with each other. Mariya was too ill to do anything for most of the day, though the tea had helped ward off some of the nastier symptoms of her sickness. It was still too rainy outside for Anna do anything productive, but she didn’t mind taking care of her girlfriend.

The thunder in the distance grew louder as the storm drew closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "dorogaya moya" - my dear
> 
> A short and sweet chapter, but I really wanted to write more domestic moments with these two :3 
> 
> Also, I didn't say this before, but please feel free to bug me on Tumblr! I love hearing from people! My art blog has the same handle as here, but I'll drop the url right here: https://deadrence.tumblr.com/


	7. War

*****

Eventually, the amount of strange men that showed up in their territory started dwindling as tensions with other countries rose. Those who did come often adorned military clothing.

Anna and Mariya tried not to concern themselves with it. 

That is, until the war started. The sound of frequent gun fire and cannons were extremely unnerving to the both of them. It was far enough away that they weren’t in any immediate danger, but it was harming their ability to hunt, as the noises scared off any prey in the area. They both found that they had to travel farther and farther distances to be able to hunt. 

They were forced to head into uncharted territory, their desperation for food driving them. Anna was, naturally, very wary of this; flashbacks from her past rising once again made her severely anxious.

One day, instead of prey, they had stumbled into a small group of guards of about fifteen people who had been patrolling the forest around their camp. More like, they had stumbled across the two of them.

“HALT!” one burly man shouted at them.

The two of them clutched each other’s hand and immediately hid behind the nearest tree.

Anna cursed at herself and looked over at Mariya, terror etched in her features. “Go; run back to the cabin. I will distract them,” she whispered.

“No, I’m not leaving you! There’s too many of them,” Mariya said as she trailed her hands up along her skin to take hold of Anna’s forearms as she did the same, giving them a squeeze to convey her meaning.

“Trust me!” Anna looked at her pleadingly. She knew Mariya would be stubborn and hesitant to leave, but she absolutely did not want her to get attacked by the guards. Anna knew how to fight them off. She’d done it many, many times before.

“Anna-” 

“Please…” she interrupted. She repeated the word a little softer and hated the pained response in her girlfriend’s eyes. But she didn’t care if she would be upset at her if it meant that she could keep her safe.

Mariya, not knowing what else to do, stalled for a second before she hugged her quickly. As she let her go, Anna quickly threw one of her hatches at a tree in the distance, causing some of the men to fire their guns at nothing. Anna nodded at her, and Mariya ran behind another tree for cover. A few other men shot at her as she did, but their reaction was delayed, and they had terrible aim. The good thing about muskets was that they could only be fired once every few minutes.

While they had shot at Mariya, Anna had thrown another hatchet at one of them and moved to quickly hide behind a different, further away, tree. The man that it hit fell to the ground, dead. She thanked the forest for having an abundance of cover.

They kept doing this a few more times, and each time another man fell to the ground as they crept further and further away from the guards, who stayed put. They were obviously new trainees, so they used this to their advantage.

“MEN! Have you no discipline?! Get the woman with hatchets!” the burly man ordered. “You three, go after the other girl!”

It was only then that Mariya had been forced to run away.

Anna was going to try to kill some of the men that had gone after her girlfriend, but she became preoccupied with the ones rushing up to her.

 

 

*****

Mariya kept running as fast as her legs could carry her. More gunshots in the distance scared her, but she had to keep running. The men had already wasted their bullets on her, but they were catching up quickly. One of them reached out to grab her arm, and she turned around and sliced his throat open with her hunting knife, adrenaline and fear fueling her movements. She staggered back forward and kept running, refusing to look behind her.

But she wasn’t fast enough. One of them caught up and tackled her to the ground, forcing her to drop her blade. Both men were now trying to hold her down. Mariya flipped over before she could be completely restrained and kicked one man in the jaw with all of her might. He fell backwards, clutching his jaw painfully and in surprise. She leaned back over, grabbed her knife back in her hand, and swiftly plunged it into the nearest soul to her. She pulled it back out and used it on the man she had kicked, who had already recovered and was coming at her with his own knife.

When the job was done, Mariya stood up and tried to catch her breath. Her hands and face had been covered in blood, and she was slightly shaking. Everything was all a blur. It was the first time she had ever killed another human. She never would have thought that she would have been capable of reacting that quickly if she didn’t just experience it firsthand.

She didn’t have time to process what had just happened before another gunshot in the distance caught her attention. She started running back towards Anna as fast as she could. She was terrified that she had been wounded, or worse. She never planned on leaving her to begin with, but she had no other choice when the guards rushed her.

As she ran, she saw a dark cloud form above the sky where they were, just above the tree line. It had been unlike anything she had ever seen, and it gave her a horrid omen. Her lungs were already on fire, but she forced herself to move even faster.

When she finally arrived at the scene, she came across all of the soldiers who laid scattered around the area. It was hard to see because the area had become dense with an unnatural fog, but the men without hatchets in their bodies were left with violent axe wounds that riddled their corpses. They were all dead, but Anna was nowhere to be found. The area smelled strongly of dirt and iron.

“Anna!” Mariya screamed. Her heart was pounding, and tears started to stream down her face as she panicked.

There was no response. _I never should have left her! she thought,_ cursing herself.

“Anna!” she called again. Nothing.

She was going to try to search the area, but the sound of more men yelling in the distance caused her to back up in fear. She couldn’t stay here, or else they would kill her. She had no other choice but to run back to their cabin. She prayed that Anna would be there waiting for her.

 

 

*****

She was gone.

Mariya was faced with the new, harsh reality that Anna was gone. She couldn’t stop thinking about the cloud that had formed above them. It had been a clean day out; what storm cloud forms that quickly?

It plagued her.

Every day, she grew deeper and deeper in her depression and despair. Everything had been taken from her once again. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was how Anna felt.

She wouldn’t wish it upon her worst enemy.

The one person she loved was gone. Just disappeared. The numbing fog returned in her mind at full force. But, she kept going for Anna and fought it off as best she could. She lived in her cabin and lived as she did all those years before they met. She had no appetite but forced herself to hunt and eat. The only reason she _could_ stay alive was because of her, and she didn’t want it to go to waste, no matter how bad things got. She had completely lost track of time, living only day by day. She had nowhere else to go.

The only thing that kept her going was that one day, she would come back. Maybe, they had captured her, or she had run away. Maybe, she was still alive. She had no idea and not knowing made her feel sick to her stomach.

Mariya would go through Anna’s things, learning a new side of her that she had not yet had the chance to see. She found that she had kept a diary of sorts that was hidden in between the bed frame and the wall, and she wrote down all of her thoughts in it. She wrote about her past, new experiences, and her hopes and dreams. She had written about all of the children who had stumbled into her territory, and even after taking care of them for a while, how she felt that there was still something missing within her. Mariya had seen that she desperately wanted her own child, but she also saw writings about her desire of having someone else to share a different kind of connection with. Someone to take care of in a different way and someone to take care of her in return, like what she had read about in her mother’s books.

Anything that would happen to her, she wrote down. When Mariya got to the pages that were written about her, it was too much to bare.

One sentence, though, was burned in her mind: _“She makes me feel alive, like every day spent with her is one worth living.”_

 

  

*****

The raging war around her never stopped. It kept her up at night, haunting the place she had taken so much comfort in once.

It wasn’t until months after that German soldiers finally invaded her territory, seeking to claim every last inch of land. She was outnumbered and forced to flee. She ran to the only place she knew she might have a chance of surviving them: she had hoped that the Russian guards were still at their camp, and that they would fire upon the foreign enemy.

Upon entering the area, though, everything else seemed to fade away. The thick, unusual fog had reappeared, and she could no longer hear the soldiers behind her screaming. Instead, she heard something else.

What appeared above her in the sky gave her the same, horrible omen that the cloud above Anna had given her all that time ago. She watched helplessly as black, spider-like tendrils materialized out of the dark haze above her. They seemed to grasp for her, but she couldn’t force herself to move.

When they had wrapped themselves around her, she snapped out of it and tried wriggling free, but their grip was too strong and she couldn’t fend them off. They slowly pulled her into the dark abyss above.


	8. Newcomer

*****

When Anna had come to her senses, she had no idea where she was. She awoke in a darkened room. She rubbed her eyes open and glanced all around her, unable to see much of anything at all. This “room” had no walls, no light source, and no objects of any kind. It was a plain, vast expanse with no rhyme or reason to its layout. It gave her intensely bad premonitions.

She had no memory of how she came here. The last thing she remembered was fighting the soldiers off after Mariya had run away. She was so scared that they had caught her, and she was going to run after her after she killed the last soldier – but that was all she remembered. Why was she here, though? 

**_“Welcome.”_ **

She jumped at the booming, powerful voice that had echoed throughout the expanse, pulling her away from her foggy thoughts. She had no idea where the voice had originated from. It seemed to be everywhere and nowhere, all at once.

“Who’s there?” she called out. She could not see anything in the all-enveloping darkness. 

**_“I have saved you.”_**  

“What?” she said confusedly. She didn’t remember getting badly hurt while fighting the soldiers. The worst she had gotten was a knife wound on her arm and a graze at her side. She looked down to where the wounds were supposed to be, but, strangely, they were no longer there.

Not really caring about the response to her last question, she asked another. “Where’s Mariya? Where am I?”

**_“Oh, you don’t need to worry about her anymore.”_ **

_“What?”_ she uttered as if it was the most ridiculous, unfathomable idea she had ever heard of. How could she not worry about her?

She did not like the way this _thing_ was talking to her. It threw up loud danger signals in her mind and her instincts told her to flee. She quickly looked around herself for a possible exit, and as she started to get up, a pair of vines grew out from the ground and held her in place at her wrists and ankles. She knit her eyebrows together as she looked down at the strange binds at her limbs. They felt like hard and cold like stone, but yet they were flexible enough to wrap around her. She didn’t understand what they were.

**_“Ah ah, we can’t have you running off now. You don’t even know where you are going.”_ **

Whatever was speaking to her had said this with a sickeningly sweet voice. It made her shiver and want to escape even more.

“Where is Mariya?” she demanded. She was starting to get scared and adrenaline coursed through her veins as her heart rate increased. 

**_“She’s not here. You’re with me now.”_ **

“Let me go!”

The thing ignored her and continued on.

**_“Now, as repayment for saving you, I need you to do something for me.”_ **

“What? No; just let me go!” she said again, with more urgency this time. She tugged at the vines holding her in place.

A few jet black, crooked tendrils adorned with orange splotches grew out of the ground around her, threateningly circling around her.

**_“Didn’t you hear me? You’re with me now.”_ **

She ignored the voice and desperately tried struggling out of the vices that held her in place, but it was no use. They were too strong, and she wasn’t going anywhere. She growled in frustration as she stopped tugging, gazing down helplessly at her reddened and sore wrists.

**_“Finished? Now, I need you to kill this last man you had forgotten about.”_ **

She looked up. In front of her stood a Russian soldier, dressed much like the ones she had just finished fighting. 

She was greatly confused at this; she thought she had killed all of them?

“Why?” she asked to the open air. Before, she was protecting Mariya. But now, she had no reason to kill this man.

**_“You don’t have a choice.”_**  

The voice had suddenly become very serious, losing any previous aspect of sweetness to it. Her broad axe and her hunting hatchets materialized next to her, appearing with an orange and black blaze of what looked to be fire. 

**_“Kill him, or you will suffer consequences.”_**  

“I. I don’t want to.” She knew this was wrong. She had no reason to kill him! He wasn’t moving to hurt her at all, just standing there idly.

A bent and pointed spider-like tendril flew right close to her face. It made her flinch her eyes shut and recoil in fear.

**_“What did you say? More importantly, what did I just say?”_ **

Anna’s heart was beating a mile a minute. Anna stalled, unsure of what to say.

“I… I have no reason to kill him!” she stammered. _Why is this happening? she thought._

**_“Well, then let’s give you a reason.”_ **

The tendril that had appeared close to her face lowered itself and quickly sliced down on her right forearm at an angle. Her fists automatically balled together in response, and blood immediately started pouring from the laceration as she cried out in pain.

**_“Kill him.”_ **

After the initial shock faded away, she answered. “N-no..” she whimpered.

The tendril mercilessly sliced her arm again along the same wound, making it much deeper. She felt the sickening _scrape_ as the blade-like appendage brushed across her bone. The mind-numbing wound shot pangs up her arm like fire, and she hunched over in excruciating pain and clenched her teeth together after screaming out in agony. She tried pulling her arm back to cradle it, but she just couldn’t move; It’s grip on her was too strong.

**_“He tried hurting you before, don’t you want to finish the job?”_ **

She was now breathing heavily, trying to work through her jumbled thoughts. The vines had relaxed slightly and allowed her to instinctively hold her hand over her laceration to keep from bleeding out. Strangely, though, the wound wasn’t bleeding as heavily as it should have been. None of this made any sense. 

She heard a strange noise, so she looked up at the man and flinched back, because he now had a gun pointed at her. Anna glared at him. She didn’t want to do this, she just wanted to be back at her cabin; she needed to know if Mariya was okay! But she was stuck here with no recollection of how she got here in the first place.

Reluctantly, she let go of her blood-soaked arm and reached for her axe. As soon as she had the intention to grab her weapon, the vines that were holding back her wrists so intently seemed to vaporize in the thick, foggy air. _What the hell is going on? she thought._

She stood up slowly and took the broad axe in both of her hands, gritting her teeth. Upon realizing that she could no longer properly grip it, she slacked her main weapon and reached her good hand down to her belt and unclipped a hatchet instead. She hesitated.

The soldier suddenly pointed his gun directly at her face, and she acted on the fear of being shot, throwing the hatchet at him. He fell to the ground. 

**_“Good.”_ **

“There.” She said bitterly, returning her hand to her throbbing wound. “Now will you let me go?”

**_“There’s more behind you.”_ **

Startled, she quickly turned around to discover three more soldiers that had appeared behind her. _Where did they come from?_ Something was off about them though; they looked so familiar…

More razor-like tendrils circled her dangerously and she eyed each of them nervously, pulling her body into a defensive stance.

**_“Kill them, too.”_ **

“Why are you making me do this?” Her voice was coarse and she felt like crying, but she refused to show this thing any signs of weakness by doing that.

There was no response, but before she could even react, the three men charged at her. She was forced to kill them all to defend herself. She didn’t want to, but she felt like she had no other choice. It was either defend herself or die.

More and more men appeared around her. Each time one fell, another took their place. This went on for what felt like hours, and when she had become too exhausted and overwhelmed to keep fighting them all off, the Entity no longer made them attack her. She had become deeply paranoid at this point, ready to defend herself from whatever would make any sudden movements toward her.

After she had been made to feel like everything was out to get her, the Entity started having them simply walk to her as a test. After instinctively killing the first one that walked up to her, she realized what she was doing. She had started killing without any real danger being present anymore. Her mental state had started to deteriorate upon this realization, and she refused to make any more moves, sitting herself on the ground in protest. She fiercely fought against the Entity’s demands to kill.

However, the Entity would start inflicting her with repeated wounds and lacerations here and there and words that were designed to mess with her mind and state of security. Again and again, until it was too much for her to bear, and until she kept doing what the Entity wanted her to do at each stage. It had begun to desensitize her. The Entity molded her initial fear of death into something much more productive: fear of disobedience.

Eventually, she was forced to give in to stop the constant, agonizing torture, despite the fact that she would protest for as long as she could every time. The more she disobeyed the Entity, the more severely she was tortured.

She was forced to kill people standing still, then forced to chase them down to kill them. Then, instead of outright killing them, she was simply instructed to place them on meat hooks to appease the Entity. She had completely lost her sense of time as hours bled into what she thought were days, days into what she had thought were weeks, weeks into what she thought were months, and then after she had lost track of time entirely. Everything was a blur, and she had been forced to repress all of her emotions and numb herself in order survive in the new reality she found herself in. Allowing herself to feel was going to destroy her from the inside out if she didn’t stop it first. The Entity had near completely reconditioned her into what It had wanted her to be: nothing more than an extension of It’s own appendages, made to do It’s bidding.

When the Entity felt like she was ready, It put her into several mock trials. There, she was pitted against four survivors in a random realm of the Entity’s choosing to sacrifice them before they were able to repair enough generators to escape from the trial. Each time she showed pity, there would be consequences. If she did not consistently kill enough, or refused to kill, there would be consequences.

With time, she had become a shell of her former self, and she had never felt so empty and hollow. Her life with Mariya had become a faraway dream. Anna’s most recent loss had pushed her over the edge. She felt like everything that had ever held any meaning to her had been robbed from her. And for what? Why did she deserve this? She let her sheer rage and anguish fuel her trials, but when it wore off, she was left with nothing but the dull ache in her chest.

Now, she had to learn to live without Mariya, but she still clutched onto her memories and steadfast love for her with everything she had left. However, her despair in losing her, of not knowing whether the soldiers had killed her or whether she had lived, had eaten away at her until she was forced to shove those emotions down, too; into the deepest parts of her soul.  

It didn’t always work though; she terribly longed for her. She didn’t know if she would ever see her again, but she had become too preoccupied with the Entity’s constant demands to keep it at the forefront of her mind at all times.


	9. Fellows

*****

With due time, the Entity put her into a realm where it kept all of It’s killers.

Refusing to look at anyone at first, she attempted to make herself comfortable in a lone corner of a broken-down structure, huddling her knees up to her chest and staring blankly at the floor. A dark, numbing haze had formed in her mind, and she wasn’t interested in talking with anyone. The Entity had given her her mother’s hare mask to wear during trials, and she gladly accepted it. It was one of the only tangible forms of comfort she could receive. She never took it off.

It had taken her some time to see all of the others, as they constantly went in and out of trials as depicted by the enveloping black smoke that would appear around them. Though, they all casted curious glances at her. She eventually caught glance of a small woman, who had been eyeing her several times over the course of her breaks between a few trials, finally coming closer to her. She actually seemed to be floating on the air, and her face was completely covered in cloth.

Nothing about the Entity’s world really surprised her anymore.

“Hello. My name is Sally,” the woman said when she had gotten close enough to Anna. She kept a respectful distance but raised her hand up to wave at her. The Huntress was only eying her out of the corner of her mask. This woman seemed to have difficulty speaking and her voice was raspy, but she managed to speak softly enough to almost have a comforting undertone to it. “I see you are new here. What is your name?” 

Anna did not say anything, just turned her mask away from her.

“I get that you’re probably afraid to talk to me, or that you are depressed, but the Entity doesn’t care about what we do so long as we sacrifice for It. Just so you know...”

The Huntress slowly turned her head back towards her but stayed silent. _Why is she being nice to me? she wondered._ Kindness deeply shocked her after what she had just gone through, but she did not trust this strange woman. She just wanted to be left alone.

Sally gave a soft, knowing sigh. “But I understand what you just went through. We were all like that when we first came here... Come find me later if you want someone to talk to,” she offered as she started to go back towards the blazing campfire in the middle of the area.

“Anna.” She stated plainly, closing her eyes for a moment. “My name is Anna.” Guilt had started eating away at her subconsciousness. It didn’t feel right to completely ignore someone who was just trying to be nice to her.

The Nurse turned her veiled, expressionless face back around to look at her. “It’s nice to meet you, Anna.”

Soon after Sally said this, black smoke started swirling around Anna. She felt like she was being carried away, and the last thing she saw before the darkness consumed her was Sally turning back around to leave, a dark figure standing behind her.

 

 

*****

When the smoke had stopped circling her, she found herself in a strange new realm, already clutching her broad axe with both of her hands and a full stack of hatchets at her belt. She was able to see the auras of all of the generators, and she understood what this meant. She knew what she had to do.

The realm was open and wide, with a great red structure she could see in the distance beyond the corn fields. Taking a breath in, she started humming her favorite lullaby for comfort and moved to the closest generator to her.

She saw someone’s foot disappear behind a stack of hay bales in the distance as they failingly tried to hide behind it. When she had rounded it, a survivor she had never seen before started running, moving away with a quick burst of energy but peering back behind her shoulder to look at her.

The girl shot her eyebrows up and gazed at her with large eyes, but Anna forced down her emotions and unclipped a hatchet from her belt, raising it up at her to take her aim. If she didn’t do this she would just be tortured again, and she wasn’t sure she could handle that. The survivor, who had braided auburn hair, parted her lips and widened her eyes further in response as she ran to the nearest pile of boxes for cover. Anna retracted her hatchet and trailed her, forcing her away from the lame hiding spot and out into the open.

She raised her hatchet again, and the girl never took her eyes off of her as she ran forwards. As she released it, the girl swerved to the right at the last second, and the hatchet stuck into the ground beside her. This threw Anna off guard, but she would not miss again.

Anna threw the next hatchet a little in front of the woman. As she swerved, she ran right into it, crying out in pain as it lodged in her back. The boost the impact gave her was enough to get her to the next structure.

The injured survivor had run past a generator, which blew up as soon as two other male survivors got off of repairing it. One had run away but the other one with glasses stupidly decided to hide behind the broken generator, thinking she must not have seen him in the chaos. She ran right to him, but he realized he had been spotted too late. She swung her broad axe and brought it down upon his shoulder, causing him to howl in pain.

The man with glasses urgently ran past the pallet that was across from the generator. He tried looping her around it for a while but threw it down too early in his fear. She immediately broke the pallet, and he was forced to run to the next wooden structure, putting him out into the open field in the meantime.

When she had raised her hatchet up, he ran to duck behind a pile of scrap tires. Following a gut feeling, she kept her hatchet raised as she neared. He didn’t move and because of this, she was able to catch up quickly and struck him to the ground with her main weapon; his scream soon resonating throughout the realm. She quickly realized that this was actually a good way of herding them to where she wanted them to go. She made a mental note as she bent down to pick up the survivor, placing him on the nearest hook to her. The sick sound of metal piercing bone and flesh and his loud, agonized scream pierced her ears.

She hated this.

She went back to the generator that the two had been working on and gave it a good kick, then turned to head back as someone had already unhooked the male with glasses.

When she trailed the red, scratch-like marks that were still on the ground, she chose to ignore the diverging path with blood on them; her empathy already creeping back its way back in. She didn’t need to be _that_ brutal to appease the Entity.

Her eyes followed the trail of scratch marks and she looked up to see a more muscular man running away from her in the open. This one had a buzz cut and appeared to the rough and rowdy type. He kind of reminded her of the brutish soldiers she used to kill. The memory made her blood boil and she tightened her grip on her broad axe. This must have been the one to unhook the other male.

Even though he was very far away from her, she threw a hatchet at him anyway. He was running in a straight line, as he must have thought that she would have missed at that distance, but when the hatchet planted itself firmly in his spine he bellowed out in surprise. He was obviously shocked at her accuracy.

 _What, did he think I would miss a still target? She mused._ Arrogance would prove to be deadly. 

When she had caught up to him and he exhausted the loop around the wooden walls, he had begun to run in random directions this time, swerving back and forth and running around in circles in an apparent attempt to confuse her. Fortunately, he was too predictable, and he fell to the ground in a heap as she struck him down.

As the trial grew on, she realized she did not recognize any of these survivors; even after several other trials. The ones she saw the first few times with the Entity must have been from a different realm; it was the only thing that made sense to her.

Naturally, many survivors had no idea how to face against her. They made the same mistakes again and again until they learned. She was very accurate with her hatchets, but it had become more or less disturbingly amusing to see the different ways the survivors had tried confusing her. Sometimes, their idea had worked, and she was surprised when they did dodge her attacks or she lost sight of them.

But as the survivors learned, The Huntress learned as well. She had gotten the idea to raise her hatchet at every pallet. Many survivors preemptively threw it down, either in fear or disorientation or just not knowing where she was, giving her a clear shot most of the time. Herding them to certain places was also a valuable tactic.

As time grew on, she surprisingly found herself almost enjoying the hunt. In many ways, the survivors reminded her of the animals she used to track down and kill, but they were much more interesting than bears or wolves. These ones adapted – the different ways they would try to mind game her and confuse her presented a challenge to increase her skill in tracking them down and guessing their movements.

It was a challenge she accepted, mostly out of fear of disappointing the Entity at first, but she never expected to ever start to enjoy it. It scared her a bit and she knew she would be disappointing Mariya, but she felt less guilty after finding out that death was not a permanent occurrence in the Entity’s realm. She still did not understand It’s motivations, but they didn’t seem to matter. She wasn’t sure if knowing would really change anything.

When she had gotten skilled enough at hunting the survivors, the Entity would place in her a preparation area before trials. Here, she could choose different attachments to her weapons to make her hunt easier. The rarity and strength of the items that were available increased over time. They served as rewards for good service, and she didn’t hesitate to take advantage of them when she could.

 

 

*****

When she spent time at the killer’s realm after trials, she eventually moved out of her lone corner to sit at the campfire in the center of the place with everyone else. Well, those who were there, anyway. The killers tended to either do their own thing by themselves in various areas of the wide-ranging realm or huddled together in smaller groups. The latter was more rare, though. They constantly went in and out of trials, so there was hardly any time to do much else but wait.

Staring into the blazing campfire below her, she tried to gather whatever warmth she could get out of it. However, this fire did not seem to be an actual fire. It never needed tending to, and it never changed in shape or form. It crackled and burned like a real fire, but never had a “real” feel to it. Gazing into it made her somber. She deeply missed her life at her cabin.

She missed Mariya. _It just wasn’t fair._ She wondered what she would think of her now, and tried to shove the thought out of her mind as her heart sank at the possibilities.

She could feel herself reverting back to how she had once been: loss and hopelessness etched itself deeply in her mind. Her grip on the world started to slip as the dark haze washed over her mind once again, nearly driving her to madness. She became detached and demented under the Entity’s influence. After all, this was what was rewarded. 

One thing that scared her most was that her memories were starting to fade, if not just piece by piece. She could still remember everything from her previous life, but the lines between memories began to blur. She was terrified of possibly forgetting about Mariya, or having her memories repressed. She thought that she could never truly forget about her because of the deep impact she had on her life, but the idea was still worrisome and none too impossible at the rate things were going.

Even still, she couldn’t stop thinking about her. The fact that she did not see Mariya die was the one thread that kept her attached; that kept her from completely losing her mind. Whenever she had time to process her emotions alone, her thoughts were so enveloped with her memories of their life together. What she wouldn’t give to be able to see her again; to feel her soft lips against her own as her arms enfolded gently around her waist – their favorite place to be. She _needed_ her. Her very skin burned for her touch. No matter how much Anna would drag her own fingertips along her arms and neck and up through her hair, it could never give her the same sensations Mariya could. 

Her heart ached for her, but what could she do? She didn’t know how to deal with her agony, so she numbed herself to stop the pain of missing her, but again, it didn’t always work. When she did think of her, she tried to remember the good times and not focus on her current situation. It was too hard to be optimistic, though; but she still tried her best because she knew that it was what Mariya would have wanted. She wouldn’t want her to just give up, succumb to misery, and just fade away.

She gave a long, quiet but drawn out sigh as she finally lifted her eyes to look at the few others around the campfire.

The killers had started introducing themselves once she had become less reclusive. The first had been Sally, but the next had been a woman in a red cloak who adorned the head of a pig covered in human hair. She seemed slightly standoffish and was very blunt at first, but with time she seemed to warm up to her.

A burly man with a cracked bone mask had introduced himself as Evan MacMillan, along with two others whose names were Philip and Max. They each gave little bits of information about themselves as a courtesy greeting, as did Anna in return.

Philip was quiet and reserved, but Max was almost childlike in his behavior. He could be easily swayed one way or another in his emotions depending on what was going on around him, and he was either very bubbly and outgoing or completely silent; there was no in between. She couldn’t help but to warm up to him almost immediately. He seemed to look up to her, too, appearing to be drawn to her patient and motherly behaviors towards him.

Others would introduce themselves as they came, but Sally and Evan talked with Anna the most. Sally seemed to enjoy talking with her and had an uncanny sense of being able to tell when Anna was upset even when she tried to hide it from her. She always tried to cheer her up.

Anna thought that she was one of the most kind but sorrowful killers in the Entity’s realm. Sally was the first to reveal her past to her, at least what she had remembered, and as time went on, so did the others. Every one of the killers had a tragic or corrupted background at some point, and she began to understand why the Entity took her.

Sally was the only one she told about Mariya. She did not trust the others enough to disclose her relationship with them just yet, as Anna would get too emotionally distraught every time she thought about her. She had never completely dealt with her grief, and she didn’t feel the need to display her vulnerability out to the open. Vulnerability was dangerous, after all. Sally was extremely supportive and did her best to comfort Anna, but sometimes, she couldn’t be consoled.

When she finally disclosed the other part of her past to the bunch, they were all deeply shocked. None of them could believe it.

“You lived alone for that long? When you were still just a kid?” Amanda had asked with a bewildered curiosity.

Anna just nodded her head in response. She didn’t understand why they were so surprised. She did what she had to do to survive, no matter how bad things were or how much she wanted to just give up. It was just how her life was. She was deeply scarred by the loss of her mother, yes, but it happened all those years ago. She just had to grow up early; it was normal to her.

Few killers ever tried to mess with her after finding this out about her, as she did see that some liked to do so to others. They were intimidated by her. She supposed that this was a good thing, because they would at least leave her alone. 

However, Amanda seemed to greatly respect and admire Anna. After knowing her background, it wasn’t hard to tell why. Amanda respected anyone who showed determination to live and appreciation for life in difficult situations. She showed Anna more patience and understanding after this.

In fact, Evan also found himself highly regarding her because of how strong she was. Anna could be brutal when she wanted to be, but he also saw that she was very intelligent and outwardly independent. They both knew their way around the hunt, but Anna got him beat out with her skill. He sought to learn things from her; anything that would give him an edge against the survivors and praise from the Entity. She kept to herself most of the time but didn’t mind his company as he was never pushy or disrespectful. They became acquainted with each other.

Anna would only show her softer, more nurturing side to those she cared about. The rest she treated like she would anyone else.

Except one killer in particular. There was one that she could not stand to be around: a _creature_ by the name of Freddy Kreuger. He had been obnoxious and rude to her from day one, though he started to intentionally avoid her after finding out more about her. He used to constantly make fun of her, mocking her clothes and mother’s mask and calling her slurs that she did not understand because of how masculine and tough she was “for a woman.”

This only pissed her off, and he was the reason she had learned that killers could not attack each other while in this realm: the Entity prevented it. After she had tried attacking him, he would only ever say these things behind her back, quickly becoming silent whenever she was around.

He was a coward and she despised him. What sealed the deal is when she found out the things he used to do to his victims in his previous life. Preying on innocent children because they were vulnerable absolutely disgusted her to no end, and it was unforgivable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so - I know that it's most likely that the killers may not get the chance to interact much in cannon since they might be stuck to their own realms, but for the purposes of this fic I'm going to assume that they have their own realm that they share. I imagine it being much like the survivors, except much larger (maybe it leads into each of their realms? Who knows. There's a lot of lore gaps :') ) My reasoning for this is because they are constantly in and out of trials, they don't have much time for anything else and, you know, plot points and all.
> 
> Also, I wanted to thank my friend [syst3mgh0st](http://www.syst3mgh0st.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr for helping me with Trapper headcannons since I initially had a hard time getting a feel for his personality~ Go check out his spooky blog!


	10. New Survivor

*****

Mariya blinked her eyes open. She was dizzy and disorientated, but somehow, she was still standing. She slowly looked around herself, her heart beating faster in her chest as she realized she had no idea where she was. It seemed to be night out, but from what she could see, the area she was in was very dilapidated and looked to be abandoned. There were dry rotted boxes and broken-down wooden structures all around her and brick walls in the distance.

She also saw one large, metal building in the distance. It almost reminded her of a store in the cities, the ones she saw when her family used to make occasional trips away from their village. She decided she would try walking to it for shelter. She put her hand to her temple, suddenly made aware of her throbbing headache.

She didn’t remember how she got here; she only remembered running from something before opening her eyes to find herself in this strange place.

As she neared closer to the building, she could hear the sound of a heartbeat that was not her own get closer and louder. She didn’t know what it was coming from, but it scared her. She immediately hid behind the closest object to her, her own heartbeat thundering in her chest. Risking a glance, she peered over the stack of boxes she was crouched behind and instantly ducked back down upon seeing a large figure moving in the distance, just a few meters away from her. 

The figure appeared to be a man with some sort of mask over his head. In his right hand, he held a long blade that looked similar to a meat cleaver. He had something in his other hand, but Mariya was not able to tell what it was from the few seconds that she had seen him. He was terrifying; she had seen spikes of twisted metal and nails ripping out from his shoulder blades and arms as well as open, bloodied wounds that marred his skin. He did not look like he should be messed around with.

The man had given a glance in her general direction as he passed by, and she instinctively recoiled herself further into the shadows and froze, hoping that he would not see her in the thick darkness. He didn’t see her, though he turned around and gave the area another glance over before she had the chance to move away. He seemed to look right at her this time but stayed put, appearing to decide on whether or not he was actually looking at something at all. Now that she could see him properly, it was clear that he wore a pale and fractured mask that had a horrible, crooked grin torn across it. 

Mariya was as still as stone, hardly even breathing. A sound in the distance pulled for his attention, and they both looked in the direction it had come from. Mariya saw blinking lights that had turned to a powerful, steady stream of light above one of the old brick walls.

The man looked back at her for a second before heading off in the direction of the lights. As soon as she could no longer see him, she quickly made a move for the building. When she crawled over one of the open windows, she noticed that it had several other broken and barred off windows along with wide, open walls in certain parts. There were several strange, annoyingly bright red lockers sitting right next to one another and stacks of boxes piled up in the corners of the room. It was certainly an odd-looking building and reeked of dust and mold, but she really wanted to get as far away from the strange man as she could. 

She heard a weird noise coming from further inside. Walking down the hallway, she caught sight of another person working on a machine of some sort. She did not recognize him, but the man looked up at her and immediately stopped working on the machine to tap his finger to his lips a few times, motioning for her to be quiet.

Mariya nodded and did so, and he waved at her to come closer. She tentatively walked up to him, her guard raised despite his non-threatening appearance. She didn’t know this person and surely did not trust him. When she was close enough, he held one hand up to cup his ear, using his other hand to point from his mouth to his ear and then at her. She was confused at his gesture and tilted her head slightly to one side, but he started approaching her. She widened her eyes and immediately took a step back from him in response, but he raised his hands up submissively, trying to convey to her that he meant no harm. He pointed to his ear again. She let him get close this time and he started to quickly whisper in her ear.

“You’re new here. We’re being hunted. Stay quiet, repair generators, stay away from the killer, and run only if they see you. We’ll explain more after.” He looked around himself after he had finished speaking.

At that, he stepped back and raised his eyebrows at her. She gave a quick nod of her head to show her understanding, and he motioned towards the generator. She joined him in repairing the curious box of moving metal components. She more carefully observed the man she had spoken with while she worked. He had short, black hair, and was wearing a green coat with cargo pants. He traded off between intently focusing on the generator and gazing around himself momentarily. She would have thought he was just being paranoid if she didn’t see the man with the cleaver earlier. Occasionally, Mariya would hear loud, sharp metal sounds in the distance, though she did not quite know what they were.   

When the generator blew up because she put two of the wrong kind of wires together, they both jumped and looked around each other. However, screaming in the distance, followed by another metal noise, made the man calm down a bit. She didn’t know what she was doing. She wanted to apologize but remembered that she had to stay quiet. Mariya gave him a sorry look instead. He nodded his head at her understandingly in reply, shrugging off her accidental mishap. 

Another loud scream, and suddenly Mariya could see the outline of someone on a meat hook in the distance. She gave a bewildered looked at the man, who only gave her a sad pout in return. When the dreaded heartbeat approached the both of them, he immediately got off of the machine and pointed at the nearest locker to her. He then ran away from her, loudly vaulting over the nearest window.  

As she went into the locker, the killer arrived and started chasing after him vigorously, stepping over the window after him. He led the killer away from her, and the heartbeat faded into the distance once again. She cautiously stepped out from the locker. She was very touched by this stranger’s action of divergence, and she made a mental note to thank him if she ever saw him again.

She stood above the metal machine that lay before her. Its gears were already loudly turning, so she got back on to finish the last of the repairs. The generator’s _glugs_ evened out, and the same sound she heard the first time rang throughout the entire building. She looked up and saw the blinking lights had yet again produced a now clear beam of light above the machine.

_So that’s what caused the noise, she thought to herself._

Twice more the sound had rung out throughout the realm, each in different locations. She could no longer see the outline of the person on the hook anymore, but she heard another horrid scream. A new one had formed in the direction of where the man she met had run to. She winced a bit, hoping it hadn’t been him.

She left the metal structure, knowing it was no longer a safe place. She idly walked around and hid behind boxes or walls whenever she could, sheltering herself from a possible dangerous glance from afar. After a time of wandering around and finding nothing, she looked up and noticed that the person was still on the hook, so she made her way over to the area.

When she got close enough, her heart dropped to the floor. It had actually been him, and he was struggling to hold back crooked, spider-like legs that were fighting to impale his body. Mariya briefly looked around for the killer, but he was nowhere to be seen. She ran up to him, and he looked down at her with a pained expression. She stood up on her tip toes to reach up and try to hoist him off of the hook. Adrenaline surged throughout her body, and his feet touched the floor as the spider-like legs dissipated, seeming to vanish in the thin air.

“Thanks..” he whispered, hunched over and holding his hand to his chest in pain.

“Are you okay? What was that?” she whispered. “What were those things?”

“Explain later,” he said as he dismissively waved his hand and gave a few wet coughs. He seemed weak and slightly out of breath, so she shrugged off his behavior. It was probably rude to bombard him with questions when he was so injured. 

Her eyes made their way over to the gash across his blood-soaked chest, and she suddenly was made aware of something in her pockets. She reached into them and pulled out various bandages. He looked around himself and then looked to the ground, nodding his head painfully. He whispered to tell her that she could heal him.

Just as she was finishing up bandaging his wounds, the heartbeat returned. She looked up and saw the masked man making his way over to them. She wanted to run away but couldn’t just leave him injured when she was so close to being done. She quickly finished healing him, and he whispered, “look to the ground for bear traps!” as they both ran in different directions.

The masked killer decided to go after her. Running away as fast as she could as her own heart beat out of her chest, she ran to the nearest structure to her. She saw a large wooden pallet laying in-between several stacks of boxes. She glanced to the ground and saw that it was clear. She suddenly got the idea to slam the pallet down to block him from crossing over to where she had, but when she glanced back around, she saw that he was still a ways away from her. 

She decided to run a bit around the structure put some more distance between them, not really wanting to leave the safety of the pallet but not wanting to just wait for him to come get her, but he ended up cutting her off and she ran back through the pallet, heading the opposite way. They circled only once and when she got close enough to the pallet again, she watched him stop just a little before it. It was almost like he was waiting for her to throw it down. Confused, she threw it down in front of him anyway. He kicked at the pallet, shattering it to pieces, and continued on his chase for her.  

She could see another pallet in the distance, but she knew it was too far away this time. As he neared her, he quickly swung his blade and sliced open her back. She cried out in pain, her crimson blood now staining his weapon and the grass beneath them.

The hot, searing pain the laceration had caused stung and muddled her attention, but she threw the pain out of her mind and carried on. She was determined to make it to the next pallet. She saw that a bear trap had been laying below this one, so she changed her direction to head around it and go to the brick walls nearby. He tried swinging his blade at her again just as she moved to vault over a window, but she was quicker. She heard the grim sound of his blade smack against the brick, and she looked back just in time to see him move to go right around the vaulting point.

She ran left around the wall and made it to a pile of large rocks with a different pallet in between them, but this time he did not stop a little before of it. He tried to swing through it instead, but he was just a little too short from hitting her. The moment she saw his arm raise up, her quick reflexes allowed her to swiftly throw the pallet down on him, and he was stunned for a few seconds.

He wasted no time breaking this one, and off she was to the next area. Panting and struggling to catch her breath, she desperately looked around for another pallet but was running out of options. She managed to make it to another aged structure she saw in the distance that had more windows; it was her only hope. As she got closer, she actually heard the mechanical sounds of yet another machine being repaired. She thought of the stranger and that she should not have ran this way, but as she peered back over her shoulder, the sight she saw made her decide otherwise. 

She ran past the machine, and as she vaulted the window adjacent to it, a loud sound rang throughout the realm as the machine stirred to life and fully powered the lights above it. The killer peered around the generator and brought down his blade upon another person, but as they sprinted away, he turned back around to glare at Mariya, wiping the person’s blood off of his weapon with his arm.

He wanted her. 

She cursed to herself and ran. He blocked the way to the only pallet. She turned around and tried to vault over the other window instead, but this time his serrated blade dug into her lower back again before she could get over it in time. She fell to the ground on the other side in a heap. Dizzy and disorientated, she heard him heavily walk around the bend, and he hoisted her up on his shoulders effortlessly. She moaned in pain as the movement agitated her wounds, causing more blood to leech from them. Her entire spine felt like it was on fire. As she was being picked up, she noticed that a closed bear trap lay just below her.  

She had been lucky that it wasn’t open when she vaulted that window. Not that it mattered much in retrospect, but she didn’t feel like experiencing the different kind of pain that stepping in that thing would have given her. As he started carrying her away, she desperately tried to wiggle out of his grasp by kicking and thrashing around. She wasn’t going to make it that easy for him. However, his grip on her was very strong, but at least she was causing him to lose some balance.

He actually seemed to move much faster now that she was in his grasp. He made his way back over to the meat hook near the machine and she let out a horrifying shriek as the freezing metal pierced through her left shoulder blade. It was the worst, most mind-numbing pain she had ever felt in her life. The cool metal burned against her flesh like fire, yet her entire chest soon felt like a brick of ice. All of her weight was now deposited on her one shoulder and she thought that the hook would surely just rip out her broken shoulder and she would collapse to the ground. It was quickly sapping all of her energy. She grit her teeth and tried to pull down onto the metal to relieve some pressure, but moving sent pangs down her arms and chest and she was forced to drop her hands back down to her sides.

She watched helplessly as the killer moved to place down a bear trap in the middle of the pallet, and another one in one of the walking spaces before he left. She watched him as he headed towards a large metal door a few meters away. It had just been opened up, and she heard the yelp of someone else getting hit. He turned back to head towards her.

After briefly checking out the area, he stomped off in a different direction. After the heartbeat faded away into the distance, the same man with the green coat from earlier appeared, along with a woman who was wearing glasses and a fitted, red button-up shirt. He noticed the bear trap laying in the grass path just in time before he had actually stepped in it, and he went around to crawl over the window instead, with the woman following closely behind him.

“My turn,” he grinned as he pulled her off of the hook. As her feet hit the ground, she was surprised she was still able to stand and move around. A wound like that should have crippled, if not killed them; she didn’t understand how they were still alive.

She didn’t have time to think about it because sure enough, the man with the mask was making his way back over to them, surely pissed and thirsty for more blood. They all ran for the exit gate, with both of them running behind Mariya to protect her. The killer stopped and stared at them as they left through the gate, gripping the bloodied cleaver in his hand tightly.


	11. Iron Will

*****

“Congrats, survivor. You made it through your first trial.”

Mariya looked over at the man who had spoken. She was sitting around a campfire with several other strangers. They were all looking at her, and she shriveled in on herself. She hated being the new person because everyone always gawked at her. It made her uncomfortable.

“My name is Jake, by the way.”

“And I’m Claudette,” spoke the woman who had been with him earlier. She gave her a soft smile as she turned to face her more directly. “What is your name?” she asked kindly.

“I’m, uh, Mariya,” she said with a shy smile.

“It’s nice to meet you!” Claudette beamed.

“Wait, are you Russian?” another woman asked.

Mariya’s heart wrenched in her chest and her smile instantly dropped. She felt like she had just been punched in the gut. “Uh…Yes…” she said, staring at the grass beneath her feet. “But I came from an English-speaking village…” 

It was easier to just tell them that than to explain the fact that her parents were immigrants who never taught her how to speak the native language. She hadn’t technically been lying, because her village was full of other immigrants from various places, and half of them spoke at least some English. Her village did teach Russian, but her parents couldn’t afford the lessons. They really only moved there because they had other family living in Russia, and life was getting too difficult at their previous home. They had little money left and were desperate for a chance at a better life. 

She didn’t realize just how much she had picked up on Anna’s accent until this person had pointed it out. Hearing this was like a slap across the face. She terribly missed Anna; it was though a void had been pierced through her heart: the place where she should have been.

“Oh,” the voice replied, seeming to pick up on Mariya’s sudden shift in mood. “Sorry, that was rude. I didn’t even introduce myself yet. I’m Nea.”

After some awkward silence, each of the survivors around the campfire went around introducing themselves. Jake told her that some people were missing because they were in a trial. 

“What the hell was that? ‘A trial?’” Mariya asked.

“Yup. That was a trial,” Jake started. “There’s a being we call ‘The Entity’ that pits four of us against one killer. We have to repair five generators to power the exit gates, which are those big metal doors you saw. If we don’t, we die.” 

“But death isn’t a permanent thing here,” Claudette intervened, giving a mild look of displeasure at Jake for being so blunt. “We all come back to this campfire either way. The killer’s goal is to hook all of us enough to sacrifice us to the Entity. Usually it’s three times, depending on how long the person stays on the hook the first time..”

She didn’t understand. “How does hooking you not kill you? How can you just fully heal up after something like that?” Mariya asked. She could still feel the cold metal in her flesh, and it made her shudder. She put her hand up to cover the area. 

“The Entity gives us more strength than we had before to be able to withstand the trials. Can’t make it too easy for the killers to hunt us, after all…” Claudette offered a grim smile to her.

“Can you see the Entity?”

“No. Well, those spider-like things you saw around me were a part of it,” Jake said.

“So, that’s it? You just keep doing this again and again? There’s no way out?” Mariya said as the realization of just how bad her situation was dawned upon her. She was just going to be stuck going through that hellish experience again and again and again? As some kind of sick joke? There’s no way…She barely made it out alive from that last “trial.”

“We don’t know of a way to get out. Sorry… If we knew of a bloody way, we wouldn’t be here now,” David said roughly, crossing him arms across his chest. “I’m also fairly new here, so I understand how it feels.”

_Do you? she thought._ Instead, she said, “Well, why did the Entity take us?” Surely there must have been some reason. But why did she deserve any of this? All she wanted was to finally have a happy life with the person she loved, and now she was just stuck here? What did she even do?

“Beats me.” David shrugged. “None of us really know why. We just know that the killers are part of the Entity’s doing.”

“So, it’s not just some sort of punishment?” She wondered if this placed was meant to be some sort of purgatory. Had she died before coming here? Mariya thought idly of the religious fanatics in her village, though she never believed any of them. Love couldn’t be evil; that didn’t make any sense. There was a gap in her memory that she struggled to fill, but she didn’t remember dying, just running. It had been as though one moment she was in the real world and the next she was in the “trial,” but that didn’t help her figure out anything. It was like a hole had been punched into reality and she found herself being absorbed by it. She didn’t know what was real anymore.

“Eh, probably not? Not all of us did somethin’ bad to deserve being here.” He paused for a second, raising his eyebrows at her. His voice got lower and his eyes narrowed as he looked her up and down. “Unless you think you did something?”

“No.” She stared at him blankly. His look hadn’t _exactly_ been scrutinizing, but she resisted the urge to glare at him. She wasn’t out to make enemies. Besides, he didn’t know anything about her; she couldn’t blame him for being wary.

“Then yeah, I don’t really know what to call this place,” he muttered as he looked away from her.

“We think the killers are made to sacrifice us to the Entity,” Claudette interrupted. “Because why would the killers hook us if they were just acting on their own? I mean, why don’t they just kill us directly? The Entity must be using them.”

That didn’t make her feel any better.

“I guess we should tell you about all of the killers, then, so you don’t go into the next trial blind,” Nea said, letting out a soft, exhausted sigh. “Anyone want to start?”

“Well, the one you just saw: we call him The Trapper,” Jake started. “He lays down bear traps around the map for you to step in. Usually at pallets and below windows and the like.” He flicked his eyebrows up and looked to the ground momentarily, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Fun guy.” 

“Yeah… Thank you for distracting him, by the way,” Mariya said. “I appreciate it.” She wasn’t sure she would have known what to do if she had been caught before meeting him; before she could even get a feel for her surroundings.

“Don’t mention it. We’re not just gonna throw you to the wolves,” he said, a small grin forming on his face.

“There’s The Wraith,” Claudette said. “He can cloak and uncloak from being invisible. Also The Hillbilly and The Cannibal, who can both use a chainsaw and a mallet to attack you with.”

“Then you got The Doctor,” Feng Min said. She was standing a bit further off from the group, arms crossed over her chest and a disinterested expression on her pale face. “He can shock you to make you go insane and scream, revealing your location to him.”

“Each killer has their own ability?” Mariya interrupted, pulling her eyebrows up.

“Ayup,” Jake said simply. “You’ll get used to them eventually…”

“How do you know which one you’re up against?”

“You won’t until you arrive in the trial and see or hear them. It’s mostly just random chance for which one you get. Anyway, Nurse and Hag can teleport, but Hag does it by placing down small symbolled traps on the ground that if you run on them, they’ll pop up some sorta replica of her until she chooses to teleport to it or not.” He quickly stood up and picked up a stick that he had been eying on the grass a bit away from him and started drawing in the dirt. “The symbol looks like this…” 

“Okay,” Mariya muttered. “Thanks.” She was not going to be able to remember all of this.

He tossed the stick into the woods behind them and nodded in reply, retaking his seat on the large fallen log.

“Myers is just a creepy dude with a knife. Try to stay out of his glare. The demon known as Freddy Kruger has to pull you into the dream world first in order to attack you,” Quentin said, shuddering a bit at the last part.

She didn’t think a man could ever look so exhausted in her life. His swollen and puffy, discolored eye bags made him look ancient; like he experienced Hell firsthand and came back alive to tell the tale.

“And there’s two more,” Meg said. “The first is The Pig. She puts a reverse bear trap device on your head and you have to go around to the different boxes to try and find the key to get it off before it kills you. Don’t do gens if someone has one on, please; especially if multiple people do; just get the gen mostly repaired and come back to it later. She and Michael can be completely silent, but just remember to look around you while doing generators and you should be fine,” Meg took a short pause for effect. “And the other, we call her The Huntress. She can throw hatchets at you from a distance. She’s really accurate with them so just try your best, but she also hums some kind of lullaby, so you can hear her before you actually see her.”

“That’s all really complex..” Mariya said, rubbing her face with her hands. Something about a killer throwing hatchets sparked something in her mind, but she shrugged it off. Anna also owned hunting hatchets, but she knew Anna wouldn’t kill innocent people without any reason. At least… not after meeting her. It had to be a coincidence. It wasn’t like she could possibly be here – wherever _here_ was, anyway.

“Yeah.. sorry,” was the only thing Meg could say in response. She offered a lopsided grin but it quickly fell from her features.

Mariya’s heart suddenly stopped in her chest. What if Anna had actually been captured but escaped while she was here? She wouldn’t be there waiting at the cabin for her anymore. She didn’t want to think about what that would do to her. She, of all people she had met, didn’t deserve any more pain. Her chest hurt. Her head hurt; everything hurt. One trial was bad enough, but being stuck here forever? Mariya kept asking if anyone knew _anything_ about the possibility of escape, but each question met a dead end. Nobody knew anything that was concrete about such a dream.

Some of them seemed hesitant to talk to her about this, but perhaps they just didn’t want her to get her hopes up - they seemed to know something more but refused to give her any other information than “there is no escape that we know of.” She got frustrated at this, but maybe it was just because she was new. She would definitely ask again later, but bombarding them would do nothing for her right now.

The survivors changed the topic of conversation, and they gave Mariya tips on how to survive the trials. Some of them were forced to cut their conversations early, as a black smoke had started wrapping around them, pulling them into another trial. As some left, others appeared and introduced themselves to Mariya, each giving her their own personal experiences and how they evade the killers. 

 

 

*****

She quickly learned that trials were more grueling than she thought. There was hardly any time to rest or do much else in between them. They were constantly in and out of them, so talking with anyone was always cut short and sweet. Sleep was nonexistent. She physically could not fall asleep, and even resting was not true rest. It just involved her laying against something with her eyes closed, thinking but not dreaming.

She was utterly exhausted all of the time, but also so, so angry and bitter. Why couldn’t they just be happy? Why did war have to start? Why did they have to stumble across that many guards? Why did they have to get separated? Why did she have to be taken? Why why _why_? She had so many questions that couldn’t be answered, and there were too many unknowns about this place. There were never any answers, only the welcoming embrace of a killer’s blade every single trial. The killers were absolutely ruthless, giving her no mercy and some even targeting her because she was new and unexperienced. She desperately wanted to leave, but… so did everyone else. And yet, here they all were. Stuck. Trapped worse than mice in a snake pen. Forced to go through the horrors of seeing their fellow survivors and friends be slaughtered again and again and again. It was something that could never be gotten used to, only managed.  

She found that most survivors tended to huddle near the campfire in between trials. They thought it was better to stick together, because they were the only thing that they had in an existence that was filled with blood-thirsty serial murderers at every corner. There were some survivors, though, that weren’t interested in talking with her, or even with other the survivors. They had their own reasons for being withdrawn. Mariya appreciated the people who had been kind to her, even if talking was exhausting. She did like to keep to herself most of the time but didn’t mind talking with the others. It was nice actually having friends.

Mariya and Jake instantly bonded over their love of the forest. He was very obviously not much of a people person and kept to himself a lot, but he warmed up to her rather quickly. They both had a lot in common. Aside from being complete introverts, they understood the nature of things and had fairly similar mindsets. He eventually felt comfortable enough to tell her about his past, and she deeply related to him. She understood what it was like to have the immense pressure from families to conform to what they had wanted them to be. Jake took great comfort in knowing that he wasn’t alone in that regard. They had the most in common out of all the other survivors and became close friends.

Mariya had also been fascinated with Claudette’s vast knowledge of science. She loved to talk endlessly about interesting facts she had known and the research she did before coming to the Entity’s realm. It made Claudette sad to think about, but Mariya had been all ears. She thought it was fascinating even if she didn’t understand everything that she was talking about. Aside from her intelligence, Mariya appreciated her unwavering altruism and large capacity to care about others so boldly.

Mariya shared her array of survival skills that she had learned from Anna in return, and both Claudette and Jake had been impressed. Jake had also lived in the forest for a time, but even he didn’t know everything.

When she felt comfortable enough to share her past with the two of them, Mariya had gotten severely depressed when she mentioned that she had a spouse. Claudette went to comfort her, telling her that she understood. She had asked her who her spouse was. Mariya hesitated to answer until Claudette caught on and revealed to her that she had been dating Meg, and that none of them were going to judge her. Mariya had taken a sigh of relief. She really had to learn that not everyone was like her family.

Mariya felt like she was going to cry, so they gave her some time to collect herself. Still the tears came, but she had told them a little bit about her previous life with Anna. Nothing too personal just yet, just that they had lived together for almost two years in their cabin after Mariya ran away from her village. She hated reopening the wounds of losing her, but she needed to confide in someone who wasn’t herself. She was going to drive herself mad if she kept it bottled up.

It was only through their separation that Mariya truly learned what it was like to go through similar feelings of isolation and loneliness that Anna had gone through before they met. She wasn’t sure it was even fair to compare the two experiences, because Anna was far more traumatized from her mother’s death at such a young age and was alone for far longer. However, it did make her appreciate her more. She just wished she could see her again.

“Awe, Mariya, I’m so sorry,” Claudette said as she hugged Mariya tightly. Jake rested his hand on her shoulder, which had been his way of showing comfort and support.

“None of you remember how you got here, right?” she asked, looking to change the subject.

“No,” they said as they casted their glances away from her.

_“Great,”_ she conveyed with dim sarcasm.

 

 

*****

She always wondered what lie beyond the trees of the survivor’s realm. She had asked Jake one time when they were both peering into the forest, lost in their own thoughts. He had told her that there was nothing; that the endless trees would lead them back to the campfire every time. This didn’t stop Mariya from trying it herself, of course. The endless trees reminded her of her home, and she couldn’t help but to wander about them. She didn’t really expect to find anything different but rather allowed herself to reminisce alone. 

She could never forget about Anna. Renewed despair plagued her thoughts frequently. She thought that she was able to keep her feelings at bay before, but when she was brought here Mariya was reminded of just how lost and alone she felt without her. While still newly painful, she kept their memories very close to her. They were the only thing she had left of her, and she longed for their previous life together. She missed her comforting embrace and sweet voice. After the horrors of the trials, she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her arms and for her to tell her that everything was going to be okay. She needed Anna’s warmth like the night sky needs it’s stars.

However, whenever Mariya failed a trial and was sacrificed to the Entity, she always felt so drained afterwards; it was like a piece of her slipped away every time. When she was sacrificed, it felt like the Entity was consuming her very soul. As she died on the hook, her core always felt like ice and had a certain numbness that couldn’t be shaken off. How else could she feel so drained and empty?

That wasn’t the only thing: after a sacrifice, her memories would start to fade further and further away. What’s worse, she was the only one beginning to lose her memories. It wasn’t as though she forgot them entirely; they just became more foggy and blurred together. All of the other survivors, even ones that have been here for as long as they have known, remember what their previous lives were like with a fair amount of clarity for being here as long as they have. None of them had any idea as to why her memories were fading, but it only made her more determined to live through the trials. She tried to fight against it. She fought with everything in her to survive so she wouldn’t forget about the one person who truly cared for her for who she was when everyone else had shunned her. 

Overtime, Mariya had gotten better and better at surviving in this hellish place. She channeled all of her survival skills and worked incessantly to improve them. She learned to adapt and tried to stay one step ahead of the killer in every trial, drawing inspiration from Jake and the other survivors. She had learned how to reverse the survival skills Anna had taught her, and this had saved her more times than she could count. She got better at tracking each killer’s habits and movements, even when they tried to shake things up to catch her off guard.

She also discovered that she had gained the ability to see the killer’s ownings within a certain range of her while she was in a chase, as well as how many items the killer had left to use at any given moment. When she shared this information with the others, they just simply told her that every survivor has their own abilities and ways of countering the killers, and that she had just discovered hers.

Despite any ability she had gained, her intuition and perseverance predominantly guided her, and she never stopped putting up a fight even when every bone in her body wanted to give up.


	12. Link

*****

This trial hadn’t been going so well for Anna. The survivors had most of the generators done already and she had only sacrificed one person so far.

Right now, she was hunting the woman with colored hair. This survivor had always been one of the most sneaky and evasive. It made her more interesting and challenging to chase down, but Anna found that she had to pay additional attention whenever she went against her.

They were in the Coal Tower map, another one of Trapper’s realms. The Huntress did not like to hunt at night like this, but she had to make do when it happened. She couldn’t disappoint the Entity over something as simple as the dark. It was difficult to see the survivors at times because of it, but her carefully trained eyes caught any movement, should they have made any. Even if she lost them momentarily, she would usually be right back on their trail soon after.

This survivor was still hurt and bleeding from the last time that she struck her. This was good. It made her slower and easier to catch. Easier tracks to follow. Easier prey to hear. _Easier prey to kill._ The other survivors had wasted most of the pallets this trial, so it was only a matter of time before she either caught up to her or she would have a clear shot with her hatchets.

The survivor made their way over to the nearest wooden structure’s window, making a sharp right to vault over it. As the survivor used their little burst of speed to get away from her, The Huntress had already raised her hatchet up in anticipation.

Holding it for a few seconds to take her aim, she threw it with all of her strength and the girl shrieked as she collapsed to the ground with a heavy _thud_.

The Huntress loomed over her prey. The survivor, groaning in agony on the ground, lifted her head up to look at her and their eyes met the small, green skull that dangled at the end of Anna’s broad axe. It taunted the survivor as it swayed back and forth, the exit gate laying just beyond the charm’s wicked grin. She gazed fearfully back up at the masked woman towering above her. Nea flipped onto her back to try to back away from her, dragging herself along the ground in futile desperation.

As The Huntress took a step closer to her and raised her axe above her head to finish the job, she couldn’t help but notice the blood on the girl’s lower right abdomen where her last hatchet had struck her. Suddenly, Anna stopped dead in her tracks and staggered several steps backwards like she had just been shot. She lowered her broad axe to her side and stared at the survivor below her with widened eyes.

The memories came flooding back to her, and Anna felt like she had just been stabbed in her chest; she physically reached up to clutch her chest in pain. This survivor…they looked so much like Mariya when she had first stumbled into her territory. Overcome with grief, she could do nothing but stare at the woman bleeding on the ground.

When she finally broke eye contact with her, she glanced down at her axe, raising it up to feel the smooth grain of the wood in her hands once more.

She couldn’t do it.

 

 

*****

Nea had been greatly confused. Why was she acting like this? She’d never seen a killer just stop before they were about to mori her, much less back away from her like they just had. Her lullaby completely stopped as well. The air was frigid and cold as the two of them stayed there in silence. 

She watched bewilderedly as The Huntress slumped her shoulders forward and dropped her head to look at the ground, her bloodied axe hanging loosely towards the grass in her right hand. After a time spent like this, she re-took her axe in both of her hands and looked up at Nea again. Nea’s heart started to race, but the killer had a different aura about them this time. As The Huntress slowly turned to walk away from her, Nea could have sworn that she saw something glistening against her cheeks in the dim moonlight.

_What? she thought, baffled_. _That couldn’t be? No.. I have to be imagining things. Killers don’t cry. But, why is she showing me mercy?_

She flinched as she heard her start humming again, her doleful, sweet lullaby fading into the distance. Nea allowed herself to relax and laid painfully back down on the grass, placing a hand over her wounded abdomen. She felt faint and needed to process what had just happened.

Eventually, Dwight came running up to her side to help her up.

“Um, Dwight, something really weird just happened...” Nea said after she had fully been healed.

“Yeah, why did she just leave you on the ground?”

“I don’t know but that’s not it-”

They both jumped as the sound of the exit gates being powered reverberated throughout the realm.

“God.” Nea took in a big breath to collect herself and shook her head, pushing her hair out of her face. Why was she letting this affect her so much? It was probably just some sort of freak event, and she’s never usually this antsy. “We’ll talk about it later; I want to ask everyone,” she said as they started running to the nearest gate. She wanted to get out of this trial right now.

 

 

*****

When Mariya became aware of her surroundings and the black fog stopped swirling around her, her heart stopped in her chest. She was in a thick forested realm that had countless numbers of trees, and it had been gently raining down a light drizzle.

_Why does this look like?..._ She couldn’t finish her thought.

She slowly started walking around the realm, taking in the strangely familiar environment around her. She saw a small shack in the distance; the killer’s shack. There were stacks of logs piled up and scattered in random locations throughout the realm, and thick grass covered most of the ground. She passed by the shack and looked around some more, too distracted to be able to work on the generator that was inside of it.

An audible gasp escaped her lips when she saw the larger building that lay ahead of her in the distance.

“ _No_..” she whispered to herself.

Her heart thundering in her chest, she made her way over to the building. Dim lights were visible through the cabin windows, and the cabin itself was extremely worn down and aged.

It was their cabin. She couldn’t believe it. She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating.

“ _How_?...” Mariya muttered to the open silence.

She slowly made her way to the inside, placing a shaky hand on the door frame before passing through it. She was unable to fully comprehend what she was seeing. It was _their_ cabin, but it was not exactly their cabin. It was missing so much furniture and covered in muck and grime, and it had a sinister feel to it. There were no couches or cabinets other than the Entity’s red lockers, and eerie candles and bones decorated the place, along with some blood stains on the floor. Only the main dining table and a few wall pieces were intact. It was undeniably a twisted and demented impersonation of their home.

She walked up the creaking stairs of the dwelling, eyeing the almost propitiative sets of candles that burned along every other step. There was no bed on the second floor like she remembered, but when she peered around the bend of the wall and saw what lay on a table, Mariya collapsed to the floor and started to weep. Anna’s crafts, toys, Mariya’s gifts to her, and their other belongings rested on the table. Mariya felt her heart break into pieces and was unable to hold back the sobs that wracked her entire body.

  

 

*****

Dwight screamed out as the serrated jaws of a bear trap encased his ankle. _“Fuck!”_ he cursed to himself. Why did he never look down? 

Struggling frantically to escape the trap as the ominous heartbeat drew louder and louder, he managed to pry open its slippery jaws and release his foot just in the nick of time. As the killer swung, Dwight made a mad dash forward to dodge his attack – a trick he learned from David. He threw down the pallet above the trap, slamming it down on The Trapper’s face.

His heart beating out of his chest at the close encounter with death, Dwight ran as fast as he could to the center building of the realm as the pallet behind him was being broken to pieces. He limped up the stairs and ended up bumping into someone in the hallway. He turned to say sorry, but as he looked down to see who it was, he stopped running and stood there in shock. Mariya was just sitting there, immobile and staring at nothing.

The heavy footsteps of the killer make it to the final top step, and Dwight cursed at himself and ran to the edge of the overhang, waving at Mariya to try to get her attention.

But she wouldn’t look at him.

The Trapper brought down his blade on the sitting girl, but when she did not move, he walked around to face her. She had barely reacted to having her back sliced open. 

She slowly looked up at him. “This was where we lived..” the woman mumbled. He raised his eyebrows up behind his mask and actually took a half-step back from pure shock, not knowing how else to react. He had never seen anyone look at him with that kind of expression before, and he had seen a lot of different faces in his time. The survivor’s vacant eyes were severely red and swollen, and she looked so broken and detached from reality.

He didn’t understand why she was suddenly behaving like this. She was one of the more skilled and observant survivors, always seeming to be able to evade his traps no matter how well he hid them. She had become adept at dodging him and running him around to waste his time since the first time they met. Very challenging prey and a quick learner: it frustrated him and impressed him at the same time. Had she just given up all of a sudden? What was she talking about?

The Trapper glanced up at the male survivor, who hurled himself off of the ledge as soon as they made eye contact. He gave another glance to the idle woman below him and decided to chase after the other one instead, going against his better judgement.

He tried not to think about it, but her look had stuck with him. He really did not care about the survivors or whether they had cried as they died by his own hands, but something about her expression shook him to his core. He should have just killed her – she was an easy target. Nevertheless, he made a mental note to ask Anna about this when he returned.


	13. Crossroads

*****

“Mariya, what was that? Are you alright?” Dwight asked after they got out of the trial. He was idly rubbing his chest to gain back some feeling to it after just having been sacrificed. 

“…can you give me a more detailed description of what The Huntress looks like?” she said, giving him a blank stare. She was more than a little numb after the last trial and still heavily denying what she had just seen.

“Uh, yeah. I guess so. Why?”

She snapped. “I just need to know! I’ve never actually seen her before!" 

“What?” a few others said, unable to believe what they had just heard. All of them faced off with the killers pretty evenly. Why had Mariya not seen her?

“Oh my god, I hardly faced off against Freddy either, so I thought nothing of it! I’ve never been in that realm before, either!”

“Okay, okay; jeez,” Dwight said as he raised his hands up in a defensive posture. She seemed livid and he didn’t want to aggravate her further. He took a short breath in as he explained. “She always wears this creepy rabbit mask with a veil and wears a belt on the left that holds her hunting hatchets. She has a blue skirt and - woah are you okay?!” 

He stopped explaining as she slumped to the ground with her arms wrapped around herself. She then covered her face with her hands as she sobbed, and Dwight leaned down to sit on the ground with her. His eyebrows were raised in deep concern.

All of the other present survivors stood there looking at each other, not knowing what to do.

“Mariya?” Dwight asked. His voice was impossibly gentle, even for him.

“I can’t do this…” she breathed.

“Hey.. we’re here for you,” he said. “You can talk to us.”

Mariya felt sick to her stomach. She spent months of her life never knowing what had truly happened to Anna on the day she disappeared. She had been here, in the Entity’s realm, all this time. She felt like she was going to throw up. She hadn’t cried this hard in a very long time.

When she had finally calmed down and collected herself, she sniffed and wiped her eyes clear, glancing around to try to find her closest friends. Claudette was nowhere to be seen, but Jake made himself visible to her and walked around the campfire with a guarded expression etched into his face. Her heavy eyes met his and he immediately walked over to sit by her. His face revealed nothing, but he had a concerned look in his eyes. 

“Remember when I told you that I lived alone with my girlfriend before I came here?” She gave a wretched cough into her arm before continuing. “That’s her, and that was our cabin…”

The realm got very quiet as everyone stood there in shock. The silence was deafening but she soon heard faint movement behind her.

“Oh my god,” Meg whispered as she stooped down to give her a hug from behind. Mariya didn’t protest it, just raised her right hand up to rest it on the arms around her shoulders.

_“What?”_ Dwight finally blurted. He couldn’t believe it. He just sat there staring at her with wide eyes along with Jake.

“I thought she might have been dead.. I never knew what happened to her after we were separated.” Mariya could feel Meg’s grip on her tighten; she knew why the Entity kept them separated, at least until a certain point. The same thing happened with her and Claudette, and it was so The Entity would be able to better feed on their intense emotions. At least that was what they had thought. The trials seemed to be randomized but Claudette thought it was foolish to think that they couldn’t be influenced, even if just a little bit, by the Entity. After all, It seemed to own _everything_ in this realm.  

They tried comforting Mariya the best they could, but none of them really knew what to do in this situation. It wasn’t like any other survivor had attachments to a killer. 

“Well, um, if you do see her, please be careful…We don’t know how she’ll react,” Dwight said gently but with a foreboding tone to his voice. “I don’t want to see you to get hurt like that.”

“Yeah, neither do I,” Jake said.

This made Mariya feel even worse. Anna would have never hurt her before, but she didn’t know if that would have changed because of the Entity. She really didn’t want to think about it. 

“Do killers even remember their past lives?” she asked with a dejected glance, though she was not really expecting to receive a solid answer.

“We don’t know. I’m sorry.”

 

 

*****

It had been many, many trials later, and Mariya still did not see Anna. She was beginning to convince herself that her experience had all been some sort of dream; something her mind had created to cope with her grief.

But she knew this wasn’t the case, because the others had continued to see her. They were all too afraid to speak to her, of course. Knowing how Anna was, she wouldn’t have believed them even if they had. She was the kind of person who needed to see to believe, so she would have just thought it was some kind of sick plea to get her to spare their lives…if she still cared about her, that is.

 

 

*****

Anna was still shaken up from what happened a few trials ago with the colorful survivor. She was worried about the Entity being disappointed in her for not killing her and for doing so poorly in general, but It had not made any attempt to punish her. She did not know why, but she didn’t question it.

She would have to do better this time to make up for it.

She glanced down at the various sets of available attachments to her hatchets and couldn’t help but to pout. When she was first brought into these preparation spaces, most of the items had been plants or toxins. Simple tools for sharpening her blades or an updated haft or hatchet head to make her hunt that much easier. Now, with these more rare attachments, they were… surreal. What lay before her were items she never expected to see again, and they sent pangs throughout her chest every time she saw them. These were things she held dear to her. A precious flower babushka from a lost little one. A shiny pin taken from a Russian soldier. A bandaged haft wrapped in the same type of cloth that she had used to bandage Mariya’s wounds… They reminded her of her previous life and filled her with a rage and sorrow unlike any other she had ever felt. 

She forced her emotions back down to the center of her core where they belonged and picked up two objects. She had to use these items to fuel her, otherwise she would be punished for lackluster performance. But still, these items were almost taunting. The fog reclaimed her, and Anna took a few moments to clear her thoughts and get into a proper mindset before starting her hunt for her first survivor in this new trial, reaffirming her grip on her axe as she took the first step forward.

 

 

*****

Mariya gave a soft smile to Claudette as she saw her appear in the trial right next to her. They both walked through the thick cornfields of the Fractured Cowshed over to the generator they knew would probably be in the corner of the world. It was hidden behind a few stacks of haybales, as always.

They completed this first generator and moved to the next one they could see. Neither of them knew who the killer was yet, but things had been strangely quiet.

Soon enough though, the scream from the first survivor being hooked echoed throughout the realm. They were just placed on the hook when the only other person who could have gotten them also got downed soon after. Claudette sighed as she offered to go get them. This match was already off to a bad start, so Mariya agreed. Someone needed to focus on repairing the generators, and she was not in any mood to be chased by the killer.

She finished the last of her repairs and started wandering towards the middle of the map, glancing above the corn fields for any blinking lights that would signify the presence of another generator.

She spotted one in the middle of a slight clearing, and she was just about to start working on it when she heard a strikingly familiar, sweet humming voice in the distance that pierced her heart.

_That song! she thought._

It was to the rhythm of “Bayushki Bayu,” which had been Anna’s favorite lullaby as a child. Although the humming was distorted and no longer innocent sounding, she could still make the somber rhythm out. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she looked all around her but was unable to see anyone through the thick cornfields.

She suddenly heard someone scream out in pain in the distance, and David shot through the cornfields from his pain-fueled adrenaline rush. He was hunched over and leaving a fresh trail of blood behind him. 

A figure clad in the head of a hare appeared through the field soon after with a hatchet raised in her hand, aimed directly at David.

_“Anna!”_ Mariya cried out as she slapped her hand across her mouth. Her vision quickly became blurred with tears. She couldn’t believe it – it really was her.

The lullaby stopped. Anna looked over to where the voice had come from, then immediately lowered her hatchet as it dropped from her grip, the blade thudding on the ground as it toppled over to lay still on the grass. She took a step back in pure shock, holding her hands up close to her chest, and then collapsed to the ground when her knees had given out beneath her. 

_“M-Mariya..!”_ she strained, barely audible enough to reach the survivor’s ears. She set her broad axe on the ground beside her and hunched forwards, completely obscuring her face as she held her hands up to her eyes to repeatedly wipe away her tears. She audibly cried out from deep within her gut as she put her one arm over it and lowered herself even further to the ground. Her shoulders began to shake violently as she felt every single one of the protective walls that she had built around herself over the past however long she had been here crumble and break, leaving her nothing more than a raw, emotional mess. 

Mariya was compelled to start walking over to her, treading very softly in the grass.

Anna had been sobbing hysterically, but when Mariya got close enough for her to see her feet in the corner of her vision, she finally lifted her head up to look at her. Even while wearing the mask, Mariya could tell that she looked so agonized. The survivor instinctively extended her arms slightly out to her as if she was going to hug her, but hesitated.

She looked so…different, and yet somehow the same. The Entity had made her appear larger and taller than she actually was, and she was covered from head to toe in dirt and blood. Even her weapons had thick coats of the dried blood of other survivors caked on their once clean blades. Her skin was rough and patchy in certain areas, and Mariya, upon standing this close to her, noticed that she could not actually see her eyes; they appeared to be completely black. Anna also had many more scars that riddled her body.

Anna had also started to extend her arms out for her but pulled back when she saw Mariya’s hesitation, visibly hurt by it like she had just been slapped across the face.

“Please do not be afraid of me, my love. I’d never hurt you…” she said with a wavering voice as her lips quivered back over her teeth. 

Mariya immediately closed the space between the two of them, wrapping her arms around Anna tightly. Anna took in a big breath as she guided her hands to her back and melted into her embrace. She smelled like home.

“I wasn’t afraid, I just can’t believe it’s actually you. I thought..” Mariya couldn’t finish her sentence and a lump formed in her throat. She swallowed it down and forced herself to speak even though her voice cracked. “I didn’t know what happened to you.”

Anna tightened her arms around her, completely enfolding the survivor in her embrace. Her tight grip hurt Mariya a bit, but she didn’t care; she had spent way too long in her absence to let her go over a little pain. She just tightened her arms around her in return. Anna sniffled in and let out a shaky breath, loosening her bear-like grip on her anyways.

“I can’t believe you’re here! I’ve missed you so, so much, Mariya; I’ve been so worried about you all of this time!” There was moment of silence before Anna’s unsteady voice reached Mariya’s ears again. “I thought I’d never see you again…” She adjusted her head and buried her face into the crook of Mariya’s neck. Mariya could feel her warm, uneven breath on her skin and her neck soon became damp with Anna’s tears. 

She raised her forehead slightly in response, pulling her eyebrows up and sloping them outward in an empathetic way as her own tears fell. She couldn’t believe that she was actually holding her in her arms again. “I’ve missed you, too,” she said as she held the back of her head and rested her cheek against her veil. “I felt so lost without you,” she murmured.

They pulled back from their hug to look each other in the eyes, Anna’s hands now resting around the survivor’s waist. Mariya smiled and reached up to wipe the tears from Anna’s cheeks, and she let out a hollow laugh in response. Anna gently caressed Mariya’s face using only the tips of her begrimed fingers, almost as though she was afraid she might accidentally hurt her, but Mariya tilted her head into her entire palm despite this.

“I’m so happy you’re alive,” Anna murmured, an eternally grateful and relieved smile growing wide on her face as she glanced at her from eye to eye and rubbed her cheek gently with her thumb.

Mariya broke eye contact to smile sadly at the ground for a few seconds, and then back up at her. “It was only because of you that I was able to survive this long.” 

Time seemed to slow down, and Anna’s smile grew at her words before her face relaxed into a more carefully neutral expression. She slowly reclaimed her hands from around her to extend both of her forearms out to her instead, palms open and facing up as if she was providing an invitation. Mariya observed her familiar but bloodied, calloused palms before placing her own hands on top of them. After giving them a light squeeze, she meaningfully trailed her hands up along her rough skin as Anna’s own did the same underneath, taking the time to feel every raised scar and every crack or crevice along the way and stopping only when they met each other’s biceps.

She could hear Anna smile in the soft noise she made and Mariya looked up to see her beaming at her with a big, flashy grin. Her head was tilted slightly to one side and her narrowed, dark eyes shined as though she was looking at the most precious thing on Earth. 

The survivor’s heart couldn’t help but to flutter in response, and they sat there in each other’s arms looking at each other for a few more seconds, taking in each other’s features. 

Mariya slowly and tentatively leaned in closer to her, stopping just a few inches from her face to leave a little gap between their lips. Even though she had just called her “her love” a few minutes ago, she needed to make sure that she still wanted this since they had been apart for so long. She felt her pulse quicken and looked up at the masked huntress with hopeful eyes.

Anna didn’t hesitate to close her eyes and tilt her head to meet her the rest of the way, gently yet firmly pressing her lips against Mariya’s. It was a very tender kiss. As their lips finally separated, Anna kept her eyes closed and took a second to cherish the feeling before leaning in to kiss her once more. Mariya returned it, leaning into her with much more passion and feeling as Anna’s tears mixed with her own.

She could feel Anna smile through the kiss, and Mariya couldn’t help but to smile back, unintentionally breaking their union. 

They both laughed softly as they rested their foreheads together for a moment. They then lifted their chins up to brush their lips together again. Anna gently squeezed her forearms and pulled at them with a soft beckoning motion, so Mariya shifted her position a little to sit on her lap and wrapped one of her arms around Anna’s neck while the other hand found itself against her cheek, turning it a light shade of pink. Anna guided her hands down to her lower back and pulled her closer against her firm body with a desperate hunger. They pressed their lips together several more times, warm and heartfelt to make up for the ages they had spent being apart. It left each of them a little short of breath after.

They smiled and fell into another tight embrace. Anna reached up to caress the back of her head with her hand and trailed it down to stroke her long, dark hair repeatedly. Mariya grinned into her shoulder but glanced up as she noticed movement in the distance. Claudette stood there staring at them with her hands over her mouth and tears streaming down her face as Jake tried to pull her away from the two of them. From the look on his face, Mariya could tell that he had also been crying. David had caught up to them, still injured but giving the two of them a bewildered glance.

Suddenly, Anna started to weep again in her arms.

“I…I don’t understand. I changed so much yet you still love me? I’ve done such horrible things...”

“Of course I do, Anna; you’re everything to me,” Mariya said. She remembered back to Claudette’s words. “You’re being forced to kill, aren’t you?”

Anna nodded her head. “I had to kill to survive…If I didn’t, I would be tortured.”

“Then that part isn’t the real you.”

Anna blinked a few times as she said this, her thoughts stirring in her head.

“And I don’t blame you for that. You did what anyone would do in your situation,” Mariya said as they rubbed her back slowly and reassuringly.

Anna was dumbstruck and became overwhelmed with emotion. “I-I don’t deserve you..” Anna expressed sadly, more tears gliding off of her cheeks like rain upon an umbrella. Mariya was, quite literally, everything to her as well, but she suddenly felt so undeserving of her unconditional love. Perhaps it was the Entity that had caused her to feel this way about herself. 

The pain in her voice made her heart break, but Mariya leaned back to cup her girlfriend’s face with both hands. “That’s nonsense, Anna. You know that.”

Mariya gave her a peck on the lips. The survivor then smiled, placing several soft, quick kisses along Anna’s cheeks, jaw, and one on her mask where her nose was. This caused Anna to giggle a bit, cheeks turning a warm shade of red as her heart swelled with adoration. 

“I really do love you,” Anna said as she beamed at her and wiped her face dry, her hand falling down to clasp Mariya’s in her lap.

“I love you, too.”


	14. Here and Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See end notes for translations

*****

Eventually, Anna and Mariya had to come up with a plan for how they were going to move forward. They spoke while the other survivors finished up the remaining generators and cleansed totems to give them extra time together. Anna was done killing for this trial; the Entity and It’s demands be damned.

They were both stuck in this place. Though their reunion had woken up something Anna stifled deep within herself and caused her to re-discover her almost twice forgotten-about humanity, she was still going to be forced to kill and sacrifice for the Entity. 

Not to mention the fact that Mariya was also going to be forced to continually fight to survive against the other killers. Anna had told her that she would try speaking with the others about it, though neither of them were hopeful that they were going to listen. She just couldn’t stand the idea of Mariya being thrown onto the Entity’s hook. The mental image sent shivers down her spine and made her feel nauseous. She wanted to do whatever she could to help protect her from that kind of pain again.

There was no way Anna was ever going to hunt Mariya; that was out of the question. She would rather die. So, Anna decided that she would wait until she could tell who she was facing off against before hurting a survivor or throwing her hatchets at them from afar. She did not want to risk accidentally hurting her; she would never be able to forgive herself if she did.

Mariya agreed that if she heard it was Anna in a trial, she would try to make her presence known by calling for her or otherwise grabbing her attention when she neared. 

Mariya also suggested that they should both look for the hatch together so that they could spend as much time as possible with each other, and Anna happily agreed. She worried that the other survivors might start to resent her for this, but they would just have to understand.

They both made themselves comfortable against a stack of hay bales, cuddling as they talked about these various things until all of the generators had been repaired. Mariya was sitting on her lap facing her, laying against Anna with their arms wrapped around each other. Anna had desperately longed for the physical contact, and even after the generators had been finished, neither of them wanted to let go.

In fact, if it weren’t for the intermittent sound of the generators being done and the fact that they were surrounded by cornfields and not trees, things would have almost felt like normal.

Eventually, Mariya sat back to observe Anna more closely while she sat still and looked back at her from eye to eye, unsure of why she was looking at her so intently.

“Anna?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Can I see your face?”

Anna blinked in surprise a few times before looking around them to make sure no survivors were watching, then nodded her head. 

Mariya leaned in closer and slowly raised her hands to gently lift the paper mask up, resting it at the top of her head. 

Mariya made a slow exhalation of breath as she inspected her face, and Anna frowned and looked back at her vulnerably. She knew that the Entity changed her, but she had not seen herself yet. It wasn’t as though the Entity had mirrors or she openly showed her face to the other killers. She felt insecure and very nervous about what Mariya would think. 

The survivor softly traced the tips of their fingers under one of Anna’s blackened eyes. She had black streaks around them that looked like runny, dried tear marks. She also had scabbed skin, new scars, and other discolored marks along her temple and around other parts of her face. The right corner of her mouth that had been partially covered by her mask had a long, sunken in scar that looked like something had ripped into her mouth and stopped at the middle of her cheek.

Mariya furrowed her eyebrows slightly in response as she whispered, “what did they do to you?” She traced her hand down to the one scar above the left corner of her lip that had always been there, and then rested her hand against her cheek as their eyes met.

Anna immediately looked down to the ground and pursed her lips together as she shook her head in reply, sorrow coating her expression. She couldn’t look her in the eyes.

Seeing her marred up like this felt like there were stones in her heart, but she was also worried about the internal damage of whatever the Entity had done to her.

“It’s okay, we don’t have to talk about it. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” she said absent-mindedly. She was still staring at the ground with a glassy look in her eyes.

“Hey. Look at me,” Mariya murmured as she rubbed her cheek with her thumb. Anna looked up and blinked a few times before her eyes became soft. “This doesn’t change how I feel about you. You know that, right? I just wanted to see your face again.”

Anna only half-smiled at her in response, but she pulled Mariya closer to her and buried her face in her thick hair as they hugged. “I know. I am not upset at you, milaya,” she mumbled as she breathed out softly, tightening her arms around her.

When Anna released her grip on her, Mariya placed a lingering kiss on her forehead, then pulled her mask back down to cover her face. “Good,” she cooed. Anna grinned and quickly leaned in to kiss Mariya on the lips. She adored this person more than anything else in the world.

Shifting the subject a bit, Mariya told her about how she found their cabin a few trials back, and Anna grimaced in response. She also hated what the Entity had done to it, making it a shameful, twisted copy of her childhood home.

Anna disclosed her experiences with some of the other killers, including Sally. Mariya was shocked to hear how kindly she had treated Anna. She wouldn’t have guessed that the killers had that potential because of how brutal they were to survivors. Anna told them a bit about their tragic backgrounds and Mariya began to understand why they behaved as they did. She knew some of them appeared to have been human at some point, but she and every other survivor thought they had completely lost their humanity.

The other survivors had run into the two of them from time to time, but all of them were too scared or nervous to come to close to them. They figured it was best to leave the two of them alone, anyway.

Reluctantly, when the last survivor left through the exit gate, they started to get up. Walking hand in hand, they started to, slowly, search for the black box that would lead Mariya back to the survivors’ realm.

Mariya would use any excuse she could to stay in this realm with Anna for just a little while longer. She would cleanse any extra totems, search through the leftover boxes to get the best item, and Anna would break any leftover pallets they came across. Neither of them wanted to leave each other after just having been reunited, but Mariya didn’t want to risk something bad happening to her because they stayed in a trial for an absolute excessive amount of time.

As the soft hum of the hatch drew near, they tightened their grip on each other’s hands. The two of them stood over the large metal square on the ground, and Anna lowered herself to her knees so that she could be at a more even level with her lover.

They held each other in their arms for quite some time, soaking up every last bit of warmth they could get. Who knew when they would see each other again after this? When they finally separated, they shared one last heartfelt, lingering kiss before Anna helped Mariya down the hatch.

Before she fully climbed down the ladders, the survivor suddenly grinned up at her. “Until next time we meet.”

Anna let out a soft laugh with the rest of her breath, a warm smile quickly forming under her mask. “Until next time we meet,” she repeated.

 

 

*****

As soon as Mariya appeared through the fog, she immediately found Claudette wrapped around her torso. She was still crying, and Mariya returned her embrace, rubbing her back a few times.

“Are you okay?” Claudette asked.

“Yes.” Mariya gave a touched smile. “We’re as okay as we can be.”

“I’m sorry I’m blubbering like a baby but that was the most tragic thing I’ve ever seen…” Claudette sobbed as she took a few steps back from Mariya to give her some space. 

“Yeah, for a scientist I’m surprised you’re such a romantic,” Meg teased in an effort to lighten the mood. She came up behind Claudette to wrap her arms around her waist, planting a kiss on her cheek before resting her head on her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, I tried to pull them away as to not invade any more of your privacy,” Jake said as he brushed his hand across the back of his head a few times. He was embarrassed to be seen crying in front of the others, but he couldn’t help it.

“It’s okay,” Mariya responded. She honestly didn’t even know they were there until they moved. 

“That explains everything…” Nea whispered, seeming to be talking to herself.

“Hm?” Mariya muttered in her direction. She had gotten no response, so she called out her name. “Nea?” 

“Oh,” she said, snapping out of her own thoughts. “I’ve been meaning to tell you something, Mariya, but I just haven’t had the chance because we were never in the same place for it..”

“Go ahead.”

“Did you ever get badly hurt around her? A few trials ago, she threw a hatchet at me that had had hit the right side of my abdomen,” she said as she motioned to the area. “She was going to mori me before she noticed all the blood, but she just completely stopped and backed away from me, almost like she was in shock.” She shuddered. “I’ve never seen a killer do anything like that before. I thought she might have been crying, and now it all makes sense..”

Mariya’s chest tightened; she felt so bad for Anna. “Oh my god.. Yeah. That was how we met. When I ran away from my village, they had beaten me, and someone cut me with a knife in the same place. I wandered near her cabin and she found me.”   

Nea gave her wide eyes and stood back in horror. “Jesus Christ. I’m so sorry!”

“Yeah.. it was bad. She saved my life.”

“You must be really close...” Nea grabbed her one arm while the other hung loosely at her side.

“Very. We lived together for, what, almost two years before…well, before this.” Mariya let out a soft, mellow sigh. 

“What are you going to do now?” Meg asked gently to break the silence. 

“I don’t know… we’re both stuck here.” Mariya walked over to the campfire in the middle of the realm and sat down on one of the aged logs to rest. She put her face in her hands; she was incredibly emotionally drained.

“Wait, she isn’t going to hurt you, is she?” Jake asked, furrowing his eyebrows together and taking a seat right next to her.

She dropped one hand to her lap so she could angle her head to look at him and returned his expression. “Oh gosh no; she would never intentionally do that.” 

“Okay, good.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “Had to check…”

“The concern is appreciated,” Mariya said as she smiled at him. She was glad to have such caring friends.

David coughed and gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah mate, uh, sorry about the weird look I gave ya earlier, just never seen a killer be all lovey-dovey with anyone before. Didn’t know about you two, either…”

Mariya almost wanted to laugh but kept it in her chest. She’d never seen him this flustered before. “Yeah, I suppose that would be pretty weird to see, huh?” She gave a toothy grin at him and her cheeks flushed with pink at the thought of kissing her girlfriend.

She told them about what she and Anna had talked about. She had been worried that they would have been upset, but they all completely understood. She was glad.

 

 

*****

When Anna had reappeared in the killer’s realm, Evan came rushing over to her.

“Anna! There you are. I have something to talk with you about. No one else seems to know what happened with this survivor; I was hoping you might.”

“Oh? What happened?” Anna asked. She desperately wanted to lie down for a bit before the next trial, but she didn’t want to be rude. He seemed pretty eager to speak with her.

“It was in your map. There was this girl who was crying on the floor of the cabin and would not get up, even after I struck her. The new one.”

A noise of pain escaped from Anna. Mariya had told her that she found their cabin but did not tell her that part.

“You didn’t kill her, did you?” she snapped at him before realizing there was no way he could have known about her relationship with Mariya.

“What? No. Why does it matter?”

She sighed and regained her hold on her emotions. She looked Evan in the eyes as she explained. “For the last few years of living in the real world, I wasn’t alone. I didn’t see the new survivor until just now. She is my mate.” 

“Oh. Shit,” he said.

He crossed his arms across his chest and let out a long sigh, producing a hollow sound through his bone mask.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“Well, I’m not going to hurt her,” Anna said defensively, imitating his posture by crossing her arms in a similar manner. Something about the tone of his voice threw her off.

“Listen,” he said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think it’s smart to get caught up with a survivor.”

_“What?”_ She spat, agitation already coating her voice. “This isn’t some new thing, we were together for years before I was taken! I’m in love with her, and there’s no way I could ever bring myself to hurt her.” She paused. “You of all people should know what loyalty means.” 

There was an odd sound produced from his mask as he dropped his hands to his sides and clenched his fists together tightly. He was _pissed_. He buffed up his shoulders and took a step closer to her. “Family is different, Anna! They’re more important than some girl!” His voice was rough like gravel, but he was trying to hold his temper with her. A few other killers were starting to notice their altercation.

_“Are they?”_ Anna challenged, taking a step closer to him and holding her ground. They were standing face to face now. He cocked his head to one side despite her glare.

“You care about her so much you’d be willing to endure torture?”

“Yes.”

“And how long do you think you’d be able to keep that up?”

“As long as I’m alive,” she said after a short pause.

He huffed and straightened out his neck. “You have no self-preservation. Don’t do this to yourself.”

“It’s quite the opposite, actually,” she said firmly. He didn’t understand. If she ever hurt her, she would have _nothing_ left. She would never be able to forgive herself and everything would be lost again. It would be a total betrayal of trust.

The tension was thick in the air, and they stood there staring each other down for a while.

“Do what you will.” He turned to walk away from her with a growl of frustration.

She watched him as he left before a white figure in the corner of her eye caught her attention.

“What happened?” Sally asked gently.

After explaining, Anna went on to ask if she could spare Mariya.

“I don’t know if I can do that, Anna…” Sally was afraid of disobeying the Entity and possibly being tortured again. She wasn’t sure how much more of that she could take.

“Then just try not to kill her,” she pleaded, trying to offer a compromise. “Hook her if you must, but don’t try to kill her. There’re a dozen other survivors to sacrifice. Maybe the Entity won’t torture you. Please.” Anna looked at her desperately.

Sally stood there for a while, thinking and toying with the idea. She could see how much this meant to Anna, as she’s never acted this lively before. She sighed. “Okay. I’ll try.”

“Thank you!” Anna cheered ecstatically as she pulled her in for a quick hug. “This means a lot to me.”

Anna went up to each of the killers as she saw them, each asking of them the same thing. Some had agreed only if they didn’t find her. Others, including Amanda, Phillip, and Max agreed that they would not try to intentionally kill her, but that they couldn’t guarantee anything. Anna eyed The Trapper in the background while she was explaining to them, who only shook his head before moving further away from her. He much less agreed with her trying to bring others into this.

Of course, some would never spare the survivor. Michael, Freddy, and Herman just didn’t care. Others were too afraid of the Entity to follow Anna’s request.

Eventually, after several trials, she eyed Evan walking over to where she had been sitting on a log. She raised her defenses slightly and looked up at him expectantly. They hadn’t spoken since he stormed off.

He folded his arms against his chest again. “Look. I don’t agree with what you’re doing but I do understand loyalty. I won’t make any outright attempts to kill her, but if she is the only one I see then I won’t go waltzing around aimlessly. Okay?”

Anna brightened up at him and sprung up from her seat. “Yes! Thank you!” This was all she wanted.

He outstretched his palm towards her. “Oh, but if the Entity starts intervening, I’m not gonna protect her anymore.”

“Fine,” she said.

She placed her hand in his, and he gripped her hand tightly and shook it once as if he was solidifying a deal. It was an odd gesture, but she’s seen other killers do it before and figured she knew what it meant.

After all, he was still loyal to Anna for all she had taught him.

 

 

*****

Anna and Mariya saw each other more frequently. For a while after their reunion, it almost seemed like the Entity _wanted_ them to be together. Why, they did not know, but they did not question It’s motivations. Jake had mentioned that trials were random chance, but perhaps the Entity had a certain amount of influence over them? Either way, they were happy to have whatever amount of time they could spend together.

However, their reunion had caused Anna to become more sympathetic to the other survivors despite her best efforts. She could no longer kill the other survivors as cold-heartedly as she once had. As soon as she saw Mariya, her old self started seeping through the cracks. 

Trials were more draining to her. Instead of interesting, they became dull and automatic. It was the same thing over and over. Chase. Throw hatchets. Down survivor. Hook. Break pallet. Reload hatchets. Chase. Hit down. Hook. Reload. Chase… she just wanted to be with Mariya. She didn’t want to kill people anymore. Of course, she still had to kill, but after a long period of time had passed where she was no longer sacrificing as much as she once was, the Entity finally stepped in. It wasn’t as though she was trying to spare the survivors, but having to watch her every move and checking each and every one of them before she attacked took up a lot more time than she thought it would. And since she wasn't hurting Mariya, she would always be doing generators or healing others.

However, the Entity didn’t care. It had only one main rule for killers: sacrifice for It and feed It well. Anything less was subject to remediation. It started off slow, with warnings and light punishments after warnings went unheeded. But soon enough the Entity started separating them again, seeming to enjoy their anguish at being apart. The punishments had gotten more severe over time, and Anna was forced to kill more to make up for her refusal to do so before. 

When she did see her, it only made their time spent together after trials more precious. Mariya could sense the difference in her girlfriend’s demeanor and she hated it, even though Anna knew it was her own fault that she was disobeying the Entity too much.

Anna was stuck in a constant internal struggle of deciding whether to let herself feel or to cut off her emotions again. The only problem was, if she cut off her emotions, she worried that it would affect her attachments to Mariya as well. She couldn’t have that happen. She had to find that careful balance between spending time with Mariya and sacrificing enough to get the Entity off of her case.

She wanted nothing more than to be back at her cabin with her; to cuddle with her during the cool nights and wake up to seeing her beautiful, smiling face in the morning. To braid her hair as Mariya worked on her wooden sculptures below her. To read to her until she fell asleep so she could watch her peaceful, happy face before she snuggled up to her. To feel her soft skin under her fingertips again without having to worry about whether she had just got done killing enough to satisfy the creature that had taken everything from them in the first place.

She missed it all terribly, and she despised the Entity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Milaya = sweetie/sweetheart


	15. Strength

*****

Mariya was repairing the main generator on the top deck of the Pale Rose steam boat in the old swampy realm. The _clicks_ and _whirrs_ of the generator were growing as the familiar grime of oil coated her hands. She rubbed her fingers together, trying to smear some of the muck off of her hands without just wiping it on her clothes. She crinkled her nose in disgust and gave up to prioritize putting the machine parts back together despite the awful smell. Aside from oil, the boat itself also reeked of mildew and putrid, stale water. She always hated this realm because of it. 

She snapped her head over to her right as soon as she heard Anna’s humming in the distance, and she peered over the generator to see her going after another survivor through the cat tail stocks in the distance.  

Her heart beat in excitement, but she turned her attention back towards the generator. With the last two wires connecting, the gen popped to life and she quickly covered her ears as the ear-splitting foghorn sounded throughout the realm. She groaned and dropped her shoulders when it had finished; she despised how loud it always was. She looked down over the railing of the aged boat and saw Anna turn around mid-chase to give a brief glance in her direction before continuing after the survivor.

Mariya trotted down the steps and walked away from the boat. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to see her much until after the trial was over; whatever the end result would be. She was just going to do her part and work on gens until that point. But for now, she was rubbing her hands across whatever sparse patches of grass she could find, doing her best to get most of the sticky oil off.

An injured Quentin suddenly came staggering through the cat tail stalks towards the noise the foghorn had made.

“Hey…” he struggled through grit teeth. He was bruised and bloody, right arm folded across his chest and tightly clutching what was sure to be a deep axe wound on his opposite shoulder blade.

“Hi, Quentin.” She forced a quick, friendly smile and moved to heal him behind some cover. She grimaced at the wound when he finally let go of it. Long flaps of skin and tendon were peeling away from his bone and his shirt was _soaked_ in blood. Anna did this? She’d definitely seen worse wounds on her fellow survivors, like the ones from The Hillbilly’s chainsaw, but it still shocked her how mangled he was. 

He noticed her reaction and sighed softly, giving short, wet coughs afterwards at the stress on his lungs before he peered off into the distance. “She’s brutal to us.”

Her eyes fell to the ground. “I know. I’m sorry, but she has to be.” She peeled away more of his clothing to better wrap his wound and saw the gaping hole in his chest from where he had been hooked. Mariya closed her eyes momentarily and pulled her mouth down to one corner before further unraveling the gauze in her hands.

“Yeah, I understand.” He tried smiling at her, but it fell short.

When she finished, he rotated his arm and stretched it out, and they walked to find the next generator together.

Another scream from someone being hooked, and soon after some drawn-out silence, their generator had popped. Quentin started walking away but turned back curiously when he saw that Mariya hadn’t moved.

“I’m just gonna wait here for a bit.” she said, pulling up the corners of her mouth.

“Yeah, well, I’m obviously not staying around. See ya later.”

She nodded her head and waved him goodbye in response. She wanted to wait at the generator to see if Anna would come and check out the area. She wasn’t sure if she knew that she was in this trial yet.

Moments later, the humming revealed her sure approach.

“Hello again, my love.” Anna slowed her pace and smiled as soon as she laid eyes upon her, also slacking her weapon down to hold it at her side. She walked over to her and pulled her in for a quick but warm hug. When she let go, they pulled back slightly but did not separate their arms. The survivor tried their best to not focus on all of the blood on her girlfriend, and forced herself to maintain eye contact.

“Hey.” Mariya returned her smile in the most convincing way she could.

With the way Anna was standing, she could tell that she was tired, but the masked huntress grabbed ahold of her survivor’s chin and kissed her forehead protectively.

“How are you?”

“I’m okay. How about you?”

“Tired. Very tired.” Her wistful smile showed it, but she seemed to be more at ease in her arms. “Better know that I know you are here. I was hoping that it was you on the boat.”

Anna raised her left hand as she spoke to entwine the survivor’s hair in her fingers, looking at its dull shininess before another generator popped in the distance. Anna glanced over to where the orb was created and sighed, dropping her hand back down to lay it around her waist. 

“We’ll talk more after?” Her voice had secured an anxious tone to it, but she tried to sound cheerful.

“Of course!”

Anna quickly planted a few kisses on her partner’s cheek before unwinding herself from Mariya’s side. She slid her left hand down to meet her girlfriends and gave it a gentle squeeze before letting it go as she started to walk away, and both of them kept their hands raised for a moment – still reaching for each other before finally dropping their hands down to their sides.

Mariya gave a soft breath out as she started walking aimlessly for the next generator. She found a dull totem that was near it first and decided to cleanse it. After seeing Anna’s reaction to how quickly the generators were being repaired, she felt too guilty to immediately start working on it.

She became lost in her own thoughts as she carefully picked apart the totem. Some survivors had begun to resent Mariya if they were in a trial with her and The Huntress at the same time. Some of them didn’t think it was fair for her to be spared every time, even if they were initially supportive, but their arguments against it always fell short. What else did they expect them to do? Thankfully, Quentin was more understanding, but the tension and envy he felt were still there. Mariya didn’t understand their reasoning for being envious of their situation. These trials were more harmful for Anna than it was for any of them, and if anything, it gave the other survivors a higher chance of survival right along with her.

The totem was broken and in pieces before she knew it. She decided to walk around and look for another one. This realm had some sneaky totem placements, and she tried to think of it as a small game of scavenger hunt. Except, this was much less fun.

She walked over to the wooden structure that could only be compared to as a loading dock of sorts. She cleansed one of the totems underneath it before finally resolving to working on the generator that was in the top corner of it. She didn’t want to fly through repairing the generators because of Anna, but this match shouldn’t go on forever; that wasn’t fair to anyone.

She was only able to get part of it done before the next person was hooked, and she got off of it to go get them. Another benefit to the other survivors was that she was always available for a rescue attempt. However, at this point, they seemed to always expect her be the one doing them. She supposed this was only fair, but it wasn’t like Anna was going to try to snipe them from a distance anymore.

Anna was long gone from the hook before she arrived, but she looked up to see Quentin again, who was struggling to fight back the Entity’s appendages vying for his soul.

The image of his bone showing through his flesh appeared again and made her shudder. She robotically hoisted him off of the hook and patched up his wounds, but he sprinted off in a different direction the second she was done. He seemed determined to be somewhere else, but Mariya shrugged it off and went back to her gen.

She found that it had been kicked but started her repairs again. She soon heard crows being disturbed from the boat and a sharp cry of pain from Claudette in the distance followed. Mariya’s heart stopped. 

 _Oh, no, she thought._  

Before she even was aware of it, Claudette was running up the ramp towards her. Mariya flinched as she heard the sick sound of a hatchet planting itself firmly in the middle of her friend’s spine, and she watched in wide-eyed horror as she collapsed to the ground in front of her. 

 

 

*****

“Mariya?...”

Anna had just struck down a survivor her girlfriend referred to as “Claudette.” She was walking up the slope to pick her up before she noticed Mariya standing there besides a generator, not moving in and in shock. She was staring ahead, unable to pull her eyes away from the other survivor, and a pang of guilt radiated throughout Anna’s chest.

Anna’s voice was unsteady and conflicted when she called out her name, but she watched Mariya squeeze her eyes shut and cover her face in response, refusing to look at her.

“I’m so sorry, I did not know you were there…” she trailed off, trying to think of what to say to her. She knew that her love was close to this survivor and felt mortified that she had just witnessed her attacking her so casually. She cursed under her breath and started unconsciously walking over towards her. She didn’t want _this_ to happen.

Mariya dragged her hands down slightly, uncovering her eyes but still concealing the lower half of her face. She looked up at her with teary eyes and Anna’s heart broke into pieces. 

“I- I can go after someone else, Mariya. I’m sorry.”

Mariya glanced back to Claudette, who was lying in a pool of her own blood and looking up at her with her own horrified expression woven onto her face. She looked back over to her girlfriend and the tears started to fall. Mariya shook her head in an attempt to stifle them and furrowed her brows inwards, trying to concentrate so that she could finally _say something_. “It’s just…” she finally managed, but the survivor audibly exhaled as she stared dumbly ahead. Her eyebrows lifted before she shook her head again and blinked several times as she peered to the ground in defeat, unable to think of the proper words. 

Reaffirming her decision, Anna took a few careful steps back from her as she said, “I will go after someone else.”

She heard Mariya call out her name but was unable to force herself to turn around.

  

 

*****

“Ah, fuck,” Mariya stuttered. She dropped her extended hand to her side, wiped her eyes on her shirt, and stooped down to heal Claudette.

“Holy shit…” Claudette sobbed, resorting to sitting on the ground with Mariya. “She actually left me for you.” 

“Yeah.”

She looked up at her bewilderedly, cocking her head to one side as she tilted her head in closer towards her in utter disbelief. “But I was dead on my next hook and there’s only one gen left. And she apologized?” 

Mariya’s breathing seemed to stop before she took a shaky breath in. “Yeah…”

Claudette frowned and pulled Mariya in for a hug. “Okay, I changed my mind about the killers; they aren’t all monsters.”

Ignoring her comment suggesting that Anna was thought of as a monster, Mariya continued. “What the hell am I supposed to do? Of course she wasn’t going to hook you after seeing my reaction.” She groaned in frustration and put her face in her hands at the fact that she didn’t know what to say to Anna. What _could_ she have said? _“Just don’t kill my friends even though you’ll be tortured for it?”_ Absurd. 

“Just talk with her. I’m sorry you had to see that - it’s my fault for not being able to dodge her well enough.” Claudette’s voice got quieter and her eyes grazed the ground as she said this. 

“No - okay, no. It’s not your fault. That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s just a difficult situation, Mariya. I know she has to try to kill us… I wouldn’t have blamed you.”

“Oh, but the others would have,” she snarked.

“Well,” she paused, carefully picking her words. “We all blamed the killers before we found out they are being forced to kill. Some people still do blame them, but, you know; it doesn’t make them right.” Claudette looked at her more intently. “And things are different now.”

“Either way, that doesn’t make it any easier to see.” She knew that it wasn’t fair to blame Anna for what she was doing, but actually seeing her harm her friends firsthand was more painful than just hiding in the shadows like she had been. Anna could be brutal when she wanted to be, but her knack for killing here was something else. She didn’t know how to feel about it.

Their conversation was interrupted by the exit gates being powered, and Mariya sighed heavily. “Let’s just go open the gate.”

 

 

*****

Mariya had to search around for Anna, since she didn’t come to either of the exit gates. She listened carefully for her lullaby as she walked around the large realm before she finally found her resting her back against the smaller boat, staring idly ahead at the larger paddle steam boat in front of it.

“Hey, love.”

The masked killer turned her head and gave a grim smile at her in response, saying nothing but slowly opening up her arms to invite Mariya in.

Mariya happily walked into her arms and rested her head against her chest as they both watched the foggy, broken-down boat in front of them. 

Anna took in a big breath and exhaled slowly as she turned side to side slightly in her arms. “I am sorry for walking away.” 

“You don’t have to apologize about that.”

“I do. If I knew you were watching, I wouldn’t have wounded her right in front of you. I know that was hard to see.”

“I know, but you still would have had to do it at some point, anyway..” She paused, worry creeping into her voice. She wasn’t even sure how many people were sacrificed; she wasn’t paying attention and only saw Claudette leave out the gate they had opened. “Do you think you did well enough this trial?”

Mariya’s own words sounded absurd out of her mouth; and almost detached from what a survivor should be thinking. “Well enough,” as in how much of her friend’s blood could she get on her hands just so they could freely spend some time together afterwards? What the hell had their lives become?

Anna hummed. “Maybe? This realm is never good for me. There’s only so much I can do here.”

“Yeah… seems that way for most.”

“Are you upset at me?” Anna’s voice got lower and softer as a certain fragility appeared in it.

“No. It’s just…a difficult situation.”

“I know.” Anna let out a growl of frustration and her voice turned to malice. _“It’s so demanding. Unforgiving. I **hate** It.”_ 

Mariya tightened her arms around her; the only response she could come up with.

Anna quickly mellowed out and pulled her to sit on the ground with her, and her voice suddenly turned woeful. She gave another sigh and mumbled, “This is getting too difficult.”

“What do you mean?” Mariya’s heart stopped for a split second, but she didn’t want to make any assumptions about her meaning. Even though Anna was being forced against her will to sacrifice for the Entity, it definitely still caused a slight rift in their relationship. They had to disconnect themselves from their respective roles to work through the pain of trials together, but she was sure that they loved each other too much to let anything get in between them. They had wanted to make it work above all else.

“I just don’t want to kill anymore. I hate how I’m hurting you.”

“It’s not you, Anna; it’s the Entity forcing you to do this. I put all of the blame on It.”

“I know, but…” She groaned and her eyes fell to the ground longingly. “I just wish I could spend more time with you.” She tapped her fingers against her leg a few times and their eyes met again. “I wish we could just go back.” 

Mariya breathed a quiet sigh of relief, some of her anxiety washing away with it. “I really wish we could, too, but I don’t know of a way to get out of this place... We can get through this, though. You’re the strongest person I know, and we have each other now. Nothing can break that.”

Mariya interlaced her fingers with Annas and moved to gently rest her forehead against hers. Anna pressed her head further against her and reclaimed a hand to caress her face as their lips met. Anna’s kisses were slow and needy, but her passion shined through each one. With the last kiss, Anna pulled her chin down and grinned, keeping her eyes closed to savor the warm feeling in her heart.

“You’re right. But you give me so much of my strength, Mariya.”

Her smile grew before she lifted her head again to pepper Mariya’s face with additional kisses. She giggled in response and Anna’s soul felt lighter at the melodious sound. The survivor grabbed ahold of her face in return and leaned in to give a lingering kiss before wrapping her arms around her. Anna reciprocated the hug and chuckled, pulling her even closer.

“I’ll never get tired of this.” She only wished the warmth would last forever.

“ _Mmm_ , I could do with more of it.”

Anna hummed in agreement and stroked her hair with her hand before she started wrapping it around her fingers again. Mariya pulled back from their embrace to turn around and sit against her, pulling all of her hair back to lay it behind her shoulders as she turned to flash a curious glance at her. Anna grinned as she naturally grabbed ahold of her thick hair and started separating it into chunks to braid it.

Once she had folded her hair over itself several times, she suddenly stopped with a groan and put a hand to her head as though she were just struck with a migraine. “Not now…” she protested.

Mariya turned around slightly to look at her out of the corner of her eye, and she could have sworn she heard the eye roll in her girlfriend’s voice as she explained.

“The voices are back again...”

Mariya pouted. “Do you want to stop?”

“No...” She shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted to do. “We still have some time left before it gets worse. Let me at least finish this before you go..”

“Okay,” Mariya murmured. She knew it wasn’t the best idea to stay, but she didn’t want to leave any more than Anna did. She didn’t want to go back to the campfire just to be sucked away to another, potentially less-forgiving trial.

After re-doing the portion of her hair that had fallen apart when she let go, Anna continued where she left off and began humming a different lullaby to distract her from the Entity’s pervasive whispers in her ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,
> 
> I think, with uni and work picking back up, that I’m gonna have to reduce the amount of chapters that I upload per week to one until further notice.
> 
> I just don’t want to have too much anxiety about proofreading and making last minute edits to that much material, on top of everything else I’m working on.
> 
> Thanks for understanding! My fic will still go up on Thursdays <3


	16. A Moment

*****

When the wisps of black smoke stopped swirling around The Huntress, she began to note her surroundings. She found herself in the corner of one of the Coldwind Farm maps. A good map for her hunting style. At least the realm was open; this would make it easier to throw her hatchets, however the dense corn fields would block her view. She would find a way to make it work.

She started her melody and reluctantly began her hunt for her first unfortunate victim.

The explosion of a nearby generator caught her attention. She always did find it a bit amusing how some survivors seemed to lose focus the second they got in range of her lullaby. As she got to the generator, she saw no one around but noticed distinguished red marks on the ground: the telltale sign of someone who had been running. She glanced up and saw a survivor Mariya referred to as “Dwight” anxiously looking back over his shoulder as he dashed away from the generator into the fields.

_Not a very stealthy one, is he? she thought._

He wasn’t near any structures to hide behind, but he did try to, failingly, swivel back and forth as he ran in a lame attempt to confuse her when she raised her hatchet at him. “That’s not going to work,” she whispered to herself. She tilted her head slightly to take her aim and threw it to the left of him just as he finished swerving the opposite way. The first hatchet proved to be a direct hit to his spine as he expectantly swerved back to the left, but the impact gave him enough boost to reach the Great Tree of the map. She sighed. 

A bit of looping around the stone walls later, a broken pallet, and the first survivor was down. As she hooked the survivor and his horrid screams pierced her ears, she found herself feeling pity for him. She remembered how Mariya spoke fondly of this survivor; of how he was kind to her and always selfless. She didn’t _want_ to hurt someone who had shown kindness to the one she loved.

In fact, before she was brought here, she would have highly regarded such a person. Anna really had lost her desire to kill when she found out Mariya was still alive. The trial after their reunion was the most painful; it was then she realized just how numb she had become to killing when she was expected to resume as if everything were supposed to be business as usual. Indeed, she realized that she had near completely lost her sense of humanity this time – all of who she was or had ever been – spending ages thinking that the love of her life might have been dead, but it had felt like her life held no other meaning without her. Never in a million years did she think that she would ever see her again; just that she would be damned to serve the Entity for the rest of her life, and yet here she was. Always just out of arms reach outside of the trials. She vowed to never let herself slip that far away ever again; if only for Mariya’s sake. After all, Mariya was _all_ she had left in the world. She would never even have the chance to take care of another child while she was here…

She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, shutting out the tortured memories that appeared before her so vividly. She didn’t want to think of it any longer. Nevertheless, she learned that she could only disobey the Entity so much before there were consequences. Mariya had told her she understood, but that didn’t make it easier for either of them. She wanted nothing more than for everything to return to the way they were before they were taken; everything had been so nearly perfect… 

A shuffle in the nearby grass pulled her out of her thoughts. She snapped her head over towards the general direction it came from and quickly rounded one of the few trees near the outskirts of the realm. _Ace_. This survivor she found to be one of the most overconfident of the bunch. Beginning a new chase, she trailed him and unclipped a hatchet from her belt. He sprinted out of view to the nearest object – exactly what she wanted. The Huntress had learned early on that some situations called for the herding of her prey. She wanted this trial to be done with quickly.

He immediately threw down a pallet for some reason, though she wasn’t even that close to him. Anna took the initiative to break the pallet anyway; she’d had enough looping this trial. The survivor used the opportunity to run away from the area and into the open, heading towards a wooden wall with a generator behind it. As the distance between the two started to close, she raised another hatchet.

Again, the survivor started to swivel back and forth. She really did not understand why they attempted this; it hardly ever worked on her. It looked as though he was trying to go right past the generator, so she threw it a little ahead of him. At the exact moment she released her hatchet, however, he pulled someone out from behind the blind spot of the generator so that he was now standing right behind them.

Her eyes widened in horror when she realized who it was, but it was too late to take it back. Mariya cried out in pain as the hatchet sliced open her right arm with a sickening sound.

 _“SHIT!”_ screamed the unlucky gambler.

“What the hell are you doing, Ace?!” was all Mariya could say as she gripped her arm to catch the blood starting to pour from her gash. He moved to hide behind her, and she snarled at him and pushed him back with her other shoulder. “Get away from me!” 

“I’M SO SORRY!” Still hiding behind her with his hands on her shoulders, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “I DIDN’T-”

 ** _“HOW DARE YOU, YOU COWARD!!”_** The sheer power of the voice that had just spoke made the both of them jump. Mariya had never seen The Huntress more livid than this. She had to admit, she began to understand why the other survivors were so scared of her. She completely changed the way she held herself, appearing even larger and more threatening than she was, and her sheer presence alone dominated whatever space she occupied.

 _Now he’s really done it, Mariya thought._ Nothing she could say could protect Ace from what he just did. 

The Huntress neared the survivors at a pace that scared the living daylights out of Ace, who took off sprinting in the opposite direction babbling apologies like a child. Mariya moved to stand behind The Huntress, and it was only then that she raised another hatchet and nailed Ace so hard that he was thrown to the ground for a few seconds. Coughing and scrambling to get back up, he never turned back and kept running away as fast as his legs could carry him.

The Huntress glared at him as he disappeared from her view, clenching her fists together so tightly that they shook, but then she suddenly lost all of the tension in her body as she slowly turned around to face her victim. Anna had tears starting to stream down her grief-stricken face, dampening her shirt and the grass beneath her. She dropped her main weapon to the ground and discarded any hatchets along her belt with it, and she carefully raised her hands up below her chest in a submissive manner, not daring to make a move that might scare the crying survivor that stood beside her. 

 _“M_ _\- Mariya…”_ she struggled with a shaky voice.

“Come here..” The survivor just held out her one good arm, momentarily letting go of her dripping wound.

The Huntress walked over to her and collapsed to her knees. She wrapped her arms around Mariya gently and cradled the back of her head with her hand as she rested her jaw down over her shoulder. Anna was very mindful not to touch her wounded arm. She began to sob, “I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so, _so_ sorry… I didn’t mean to..”

“It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to.” 

“I didn’t see you! I didn’t know he’d-”

“I know. It’s not your fault, Anna.”

They held each other for a few more seconds until Anna pulled back and grabbed her wrist, carefully turning her arm to get a better look at the wound she had caused. It was deep and bleeding heavily. Blood was still running down the length of her arm, soaking into her torn cream-colored top and the rest steadily dripping from her fingertips, and Anna’s heart wrenched at the sight. She collapsed back to sit on her calves and stared up at the wound with a drooped neck and shoulders. She felt so guilty and cursed herself for not being more cautious – she should have known that someone could have been hiding behind that generator. 

Mariya used her good arm to wipe the tears from Anna’s face as her own fell down her cheeks. She looked so distraught and numbed that it made her want to cry even more, and she scrambled for something else to say to her.

The sound of a crow cawing startled both of them. As they turned to look at the where the sound had come from, they saw a crow circling from behind a line of boxes. Someone had been watching them the entire time.

“It’s Jake,” Mariya noted as he slowly started emerging from his hiding place, clearly not so hidden anymore thanks to their avian spy that he was trying to shoo away. “See? It’s okay, he can heal me.” Mariya’s voice was sweet like cream and she gave The Huntress a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, I can heal her.. I’m sorry; I just saw you chasing Ace and decided to hide…I didn’t mean to intrude,” he explained as he ran his fingers through his messy hair. He looked sheepishly at the two of them and gave a sorrowful look towards the other survivor.

Anna said nothing as she turned back around to face Mariya and immediately dropped her head to the ground. Mariya pouted. She gently took ahold of Anna’s chin and pulled it back up so that they were looking at each other again. She rested her forehead against Anna’s mask, noses barely touching in their signature, soft gesture. She was _not_ going to let Anna beat herself up this much over something that was not her fault.

“Hey,” Mariya murmured, sweet and kind. “I love you.” 

Anna made a noise that was comparable to a hollow laugh and started crying harder.

“I love you, too.” She took in a stabilizing breath and reached up to caress Mariya’s face with both hands. “So much.”

After a few moments spent like this, Anna mumbled “I have to go.” She quickly kissed her partner’s cheek before standing up to wipe the rest of her own tears away.

She walked a few steps over to where her weapons had been discarded on the ground. She picked them back up and held her axe close towards the end of its shaft, blade pointed nonthreateningly towards the ground. She waited until Jake, who had already started making his way over to them, actually arrived. As Anna turned to leave in the direction that she last saw Ace go, she looked back over her shoulder at the male survivor and said, “Thank you.” He gave her a surprised look at first, but nodded and smiled in reply.

  

 

*****

“How much did you see?” Mariya asked as he started wrapping her arm in bandages. She winced slightly as sharp stinging ran up her arm from the movement, but she was examining his face closely.

“Enough to see Ace act like a jackass and use you as a human shield. What the fuck was he thinking?”

“I don’t know. I saw a key in his hand, though.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he hissed.

“I wish I was…” 

“Oh, that little… Well, I have a few questions for our ‘friend’ when we get out of this trial. I’m so sorry, Mariya.” He knit his eyebrows together in frustration.

“It’s not your fault, Jake.”

“I know,” he said. “But survivors, even if they’re just looking out for themselves, should not be doing that shit.” He stopped to look curiously above her eyes, seeming to just notice something different about her. “Anyway, nice hair.”

Mariya’s breath turned funny as she ran her hand over the delicate braiding before clutching her chest. She almost forgot that she still had them in. “Thanks… Anna did them for me.”

 

 

*****

 ** _“There you are,”_** The Huntress leered at the gambler when she finally found him again, still bleeding from the wound before. He had been hiding in the upstairs room of the shambled Thompson House. An open box lie directly behind him, containing nothing but a useless toolbox.

“N-NO! PLEASE, LET ME EX- _ARGH_.”

The Huntress mercilessly swung her broad axe across his chest with a heavy blow, causing another deep laceration. He collapsed to the ground, coughing and groaning as he spewed up more blood.

 ** _“There is nothing to explain,”_ **she said thickly.

The Huntress suddenly stood up straighter and cocked her head to one side as if something were whispering in her ear and she was trying to listen. She then glanced back down at Ace as a wicked grin spread wide across her lips. She couldn’t help but to relish in his expression of pure terror in response. His luck had run out, and he was going to pay for what he did.

She slowly took a step towards him, raising her axe above her head. He turned over and instinctively tried to raise his hand up to shield his face, but it was no use. She brought the axe down with all of her might and split open his skull with a sickening **_crack_**. It was deeply lodged in his face, so she had to pry it from his body, using her foot to separate the two objects. She viciously cut deep into his heart with several more swings of her axe, making it personal. The last blow had gotten stuck in his ribcage, and she pulled it out with a final tug.

She took a step back and drew in several deep, calming breaths before glaring down at the corpse that lay before her. If death was a permanent occurrence here, she might have felt bad. _Might_. But **_no one_** was going to use the person she loved as though they were worthless and disposable.

 

 

*****

By the screaming that emanated from the house, it was clear that Ace was receiving his due debt.

Jake had just finished healing Mariya before the screams had started. He was just about to leave to continue working on a generator because she had told him she wanted to stay where she was and wait for Anna to return, but they both looked up to where the sounds were coming from and gave each other a look.

“There you guys are!” Dwight said, materializing through the thick corn field. “I couldn’t find you guys again after Jake unhooked me.” He looked at Mariya, his smile quickly turning into a concerned frown. “It’s her, by the way…for some reason she looked right at me but ignored me.”

“We know,” she said with a soft sigh. “We’ll explain it to you after." 

 _“Tsk,”_ Jake spat, crossing his arms over his chest. He was unable to conceal his disgust for the events that had just unfolded in front of him. 

Dwight seemed obviously confused, but he didn’t pry. “Well, there was a generator I passed on the way here that was about halfway done, we should go finish it.”

“I’m gonna stay right here, if you guys don’t mind,” Mariya breathed. Dwight was about to open his mouth to speak, but the look Jake gave him told him that now was not the time.

“Okay, well... We’ll see you later, then?”

“Of course,” Mariya said with a forced smile.

The two left her, and she sat on the dirt for a while, pulling up bits of grass while she waited for Anna to return. Soon enough, she heard the soft, familiar hum of “Bayuski Bayu” near closer and closer.

She stood up when Anna finally appeared from the field, and she looked at her masked girlfriend. She was covered in fresh blood. Ace’s blood. Mariya smiled sadly at her; though Ace actually deserved it this time.

“Are you okay?” Anna asked gently, unsure of what else to say.

“Yes.” Mariya wasn’t lying. She was hurt and confused as to why Ace would do such a thing when he knows that Anna would never intentionally hurt her, but, physically, she was completely fine.

She saw Anna glance down at her arm. When she saw that she really was healed, she gazed down at the grass for a second as she shifted her weight, then looked back up at her.

“..can I hold you?” Anna seemed despondent again. “I don’t care if the others get out.” Anna worried for a split second that she might have frightened her because she was covered in blood and because of how violent she had become earlier, but Mariya wasn’t reacting like that was the case. She shoved the paranoid thought out of her mind. 

“Of course,” Mariya replied. She really needed to spend longer than a just few minutes at a time with her. Plus, now that she had accidently hurt her, she knew Anna needed the reassurance.

Anna walked over to sit against a few hay bales, opening her arms to receive her lover’s embrace. She started to quietly sing to her as she did in their cabin, gently stroking Mariya’s body and soaking up her warm presence. A far away memory of happier times resurfaced. They sat like this until the exit gates were open. Mariya caught glance of Jake and Dwight passing by, but they didn’t bother the two of them. 

 

 

*****

When the time had come, they both reluctantly got up and started looking for the hatch, walking in sync with their arms around each other’s waists. They were really just looking for any excuse to be together for as long as was physically possible before the Entity would start to intervene again.

They were both quiet during this time. They walked slowly, but when the sound of the hatch inevitably drew closer, Anna pulled Mariya closer against her and glared at the black box in the grass. Standing above it, they turned to face each other, and Anna leaned down so she could be at eye level with her.   

Mariya tightly hugged her as she let out a soft sigh. “We will get out of this,” she whispered into her veil. _Somehow, she thought to herself._ She had spent an unsurmountable amount of time trying to think of how to escape this living hell, but nothing ever came up. She endlessly searched through what the other survivors called “The Bloodweb,” a method of what they could only guess were rewards to survivors that let them obtain certain items or offerings that they could use in trials, hoping to find something at the bottom. Well, if there ever was a true bottom. But there was nothing. It just resets, like everything else in this realm.

There was no one they could just talk to about escaping, either. Of course, she tried talking to the other survivors about it again. This time, they finally revealed to her that they have seen a few people, both killer and survivor, come to the Entity’s realm but disappear at a certain point. But they did not know _how_ they left. It frustrated her to no end. However, she was determined to find a way. She couldn’t sit idly by as they, along with everyone else, deteriorated under the pressure.

Anna responded to her words by burying herself further into the hug, soaking up every last bit of physical contact she could get from the person she loved most. She appreciated Mariya’s optimism but had a much more bleak outlook herself. She couldn’t see a way out. The Entity had It’s killers wrapped around It’s tendril.

“I don’t want to let you go,” Anna murmured. The heart wrenching tone was back in her voice. “I’m trying to be strong, but I only want to be with you.”

“You _are_ with me; always. I don’t want to let you go either…trust me.” She furrowed her eyebrows in, tightening her arms around her to convey this. “But we will see each other again; I promise.” 

“I know, but it’s never enough time…and bad things keep happening.” She sighed a defeated, heavy sigh. Her body felt like a ton of bricks and her heart sank to the floor. “But if this is the only time I can have with you, then I will make do. I need you, Mariya.” 

Mariya thought she heard her mumble something about losing her again but was not able to make all of it out. She just held her girlfriend for as long as she needed her, her own thoughts swirling in her head. She hated that she was hurting and despised the idea of leaving her on such a downhearted note. Suddenly, she began to do something that she loathed doing because of her own insecurities, but it was something she would only ever do for Anna when she thought she needed it. And right now, she needed more than what she was giving her. She began to sing to her.

_“Shine, shine, my star,”_

Anna let out an audible gasp and tightened her hold on her, practically clutching her back as she weakly leaned further against her. “Mariya…”

The survivor took in a shallow breath and slid her right hand up Anna’s spine to grab ahold of her left shoulder, partially for her own stability and also so she could bury her cheek into it. She gently cleared her throat before continuing.

 

_“Shine, affable star_

_You are my only cherished one,_

_Another there will never be.”_

 

Anna’s shoulders began to shake as she wept in her arms, but Mariya maintained her grip around her torso. She guided her along with her, rocking softly side to side and keeping her voice as even as she could while she kept the tune going.

 

_“If a clear night comes down upon the earth_

_Many stars shine in the skies,_

_But you alone, my gorgeous one,_

_Shine in pleasant beams to me_

_O blessed star of hope,_

_The star of love of magic days,_

_You will be eternally unwithering_

_In my longing soul._

_By the heavenly strength of your beams_

_My whole life is illuminated_

_And if I die, over my grave_

_Shine, shine on, my star!”_

 

She kept singing until her shoulders were steady, and when the song had finished, Anna pulled back from their hug and smashed her lips against hers. She kissed her passionately and a bit sloppily at first, but then slowly started drawing out each kiss into something more tender. Anna stopped to reveal her wide smile and gleaming eyes behind her dark mask before she also pressed her lips against her cheek a few times and held her head there. Mariya reached to thread her fingers through the chopped hair underneath her veil, holding her head against her as she grinned in satisfaction.

“It’s been so long since you’ve sung to me... I… I can’t find the words to tell you how much that just meant to me. It was beautiful. Thank you, my love.”

“Anything for you,” Mariya said, pulling her back into a hug. She really didn’t think her singing voice was beautiful at all, but all of the words that came out of her own mouth rang true. She was willing to do anything to cheer her up.

With a squeeze they let go and stood above the hatch once more, more ready and prepared for what lay ahead of them.

“Until next time we meet,” Anna cooed, offering a genuine, adoring smile at her and already sounding more cheerful. Mariya always had a way of making her feel better when nothing else could. She gave her a gentle and appreciative peck on the forehead as she helped her down the ladder of the hatch. 

“Until next time we meet,” Mariya repeated.

 

 

*****

“Can I ask what the hell just happened back there?” Jake demanded, visibly pissed. He was standing face to face with Ace, who had begun to recoil in on himself in shame. 

“Wait, what happened?” Claudette asked softly. Everyone else who was present were sitting around the campfire, trying to gather some of its warmth before their next trials.

“C’mon guys,” Dwight said as he tried to stand in between the two of them. “What’s this about?” 

“Why don’t we just let him explain,” Mariya said, shooting daggers at Visconti.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Mariya! I didn’t think that she had thrown her hatchet yet, so I was going to pull you out to get her to not attack me. It was a bad decision on my part..” Ace looked like he aged a full ten years. He was clearly scarred by the events of the trial. 

 _“WHAT?!”_ several other survivors yelled all at once. 

“And why would you think that that would have turned out any better?!” Mariya was now fuming. So, she was right. Ace and his damn overconfident selfishness had caused her and Anna so much unnecessary pain. 

He huffed, shrugging his shoulders and gesturing towards the ground as he turned to face her. “I don’t know! It was a gamble! Listen, I just didn’t want to lose my skeleton key; I got it from a box and it’s the only one I had! I shouldn’t have done that!”

“Did you realize that before or after my girlfriend killed you?”

“Okay, but it’s not fair how you _never_ get targeted! Of course, not by your girl, but by the other killers as well! I’m sure she _begged_ them to not lay a finger on you! Even though death is meaningless in this place!!!” 

Ace was met with a fist across his face; Mariya’s to be exact. He hollered out as he staggered backwards and held his jaw in surprised pain. 

He had only been in a select number of trials with Mariya since she got here, but he really had no idea of what she had went through. Only _some_ of the killers made attempts to spare her since their reunion. That didn’t mean she could be happy-go-lucky every trial, and that certainly didn’t mean that she could just be “let off of the hook,” so to speak. 

“OF COURSE, YOU FUCKING IDIOT! It’s because we love each other! I didn’t choose to come here to be the Entity’s toy! Neither did she; none of us did! Can’t you fucking see that?!” Mariya had to take big breaths to calm herself down; she felt so enraged that she felt like she was going to vomit. “Actually, no, you wouldn’t know what it’s like to love someone. All you fucking do is gamble everything and everyone in your life away like the pathetic swine that you are.”

_Silence._

“I’m sorry.” Ace finally said, staring at the ground. He seemed visibly hurt by Mariya’s words. “I crossed a boundary I shouldn’t have.”

“I’m not the only one you need to be apologizing to,” she spat. She paused, looking away from him in disgust and crossing her arms across her chest. “You know what? I’m just going to go lie down,” she hissed, clearly uninterested in whatever apologies he could muster for her. She felt exhausted. A few other survivors followed her as she turned around to leave, each of them giving looks at Ace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof.
> 
> This is what the WIKI says about the song I used, called “Shine, Shine, My Star” : According to Russian romance researcher Yelena Ukolova, the song was created amid celebrations of the 700th anniversary of Moscow in January 1847. The music was composed by Pyotr Bulakhov (Петр Булахов), and the lyrics written by student Vladimir Chuyevsky (Владимир Чуевский). However, the romance did not become popular until the eve of World War I when singer Vladimir Sabinin re-arranged it.


	17. The Test

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This chapter and the next were inspired by Lillysillylol's "Blood On Pale Petals" work on Deviantart, specifically the second chapter "A Sheep Among Wolves."
> 
> Read their work [here](https://www.deviantart.com/lillysillylol/art/Blood-On-Pale-Petals-708576351) and [here](https://www.deviantart.com/lillysillylol/art/A-Sheep-Among-Wolves-720615153) <3
> 
> See end notes for translations.

*****

When Anna arrived into her next trial, she took a good few moments to collect herself. Still a bit shaky from the last trial she had with her, she wondered if she would see Mariya again this time. She still felt incredibly guilty for what she did. She only wished that she could have held her for longer, to let her know how remorseful she was once again, but the Entity… they seemed determined to only give Anna a small window of time before she knew she would have pushed it too far again. She knew she couldn’t stay in a trial forever, or else she would be punished.

At least she seemed to be forgiven, so she tried to not fixate on it too much. Finally making the effort to clear her spinning thoughts, she started yet another solemn search for her first survivor.

 

 

*****

Mariya became aware of her surroundings once more. The Crotus Prenn Asylum. Dark, murky, and thick with fog. _Great_. With these kinds of darkened arenas, the trial could go either way. She found that it mostly tipped into the favor of the survivor, depending on who the killer was, so it was possible that she would be able to catch a break this time. These past few “days” have been especially emotionally draining for her, so Mariya decided that she would play it stealthy this time.

She quickly found a generator and began her repairs. After a few moments, she knew something was wrong. She wasn’t sure what, but there was an uneasy feeling in the thick air that surrounded her. She wanted to just brush it off, but she knew better than to do that. She recalled a year or so back, when Anna was teaching her more advanced survival skills. _“Always trust your gut instincts, my love. Your senses know better than you think they do.”_ She trusted her instincts, and more importantly, she trusted Anna. Mariya made a mental note to be more observant this match. 

It wasn’t until then that she heard that familiar, but distant, high-pitched ring. She had only heard it once: a foolish mistake of not looking around herself enough in a previous trial. It had been so faint that she almost missed it, but she recognized the sound immediately. She was being stalked. Mariya jolted away from the generator, just in time to hear the _ding_ of a knife against the metal pipes of the machine. 

 _That was too close! she thought_.

Startled, she sprinted away from the area. Silently cursing to herself, she continued evading Michael’s glare. She had become so distracted in her own thoughts that she almost made the same mistake again. _It’s okay_ , Mariya said to herself. It did no good to beat herself up over it. _Just do better next time_.

It was difficult to see Michael at times because his dark figure blended so well against the dimmed asylum, but all of her time spent with Anna taught her a thing or two about immersion and mind games in survival situations. Being able to predict where the “prey” was going was a crucial skill, yes, but being able to reverse this ability and apply it to trials had saved her so many times. For now, she was the prey.

 _Funny how life works sometimes, she mused._

The Shape actually seemed to lose track of her beyond the stone walls for a second, but he backtracked around the building, prowling intensively for where she had mysteriously hidden. He even checked the locker, but of course she knew better at this point than to try that trick so early on. She carefully tried to stay out of his view, crouching around exactly like Nea had taught her. 

 **_*SNAP_** **_*_ **

As Mariya rounded the corner, she had the breath taken right out of her. Immense pain shot through her right ankle as she fell to her other knee to clasp it. “WHAT THE?” she cried. Even Michael stopped dead in his tracks at the sight, tilting his head to one side to stare at her curiously. “ _How_..?” she muttered. She struggled to get out of the bear trap, desperately pulling and tugging at the now blood-soaked, slippery metal, but after a few tries, her hands could not budge it by even an inch. She tried wedging her fingers in between the jaws to pry them open, but the trap was sprung so tightly that she just ended up slicing her fingertips. She realized it was hopeless. He had _those_ attachments. She couldn’t get out without someone else’s help.

  

 

*****

Anna heard an odd sound echo throughout the asylum. It reminded her of a bear trap being snapped shut, but... there was no way that could be the case? She took off towards the sound anyway. She hadn’t found any survivors yet, so she might as well go check it out.

When she arrived at the area she thought she heard the sound resonate from, her heart skipped a beat in her chest. Mariya was sitting there, her leg mangled and still encased by a bear trap.

“Mariya!” she cried, lowering her weapon to hold it beside her with one hand while she rushed over to kneel by her side. Mariya looked up at her with pained eyes that held a flicker of relief. With a grimace, Anna reached to put her hand gently on their back. Mariya’s face had showed little emotion other than pain, but Anna knew her well enough to know that she looked as though she wanted to cry.

Sure enough, Evan came through the fog with the intention of capturing his prey and halted when he saw what lay in front of him. 

Shocked, he started, “What the hell is going-” 

Before he could even finish his sentence, Anna swiftly raised a hatchet at him, aimed dead at the center of his cracked bone mask as she gave him a menacing snarl that was dangerously low and guttural in her throat. His breathing turned a bit funny under her intense reaction, and he took a step back and raised his hands up ever so slightly as to not further aggravate the masked huntress. Before she could release it, though, Mariya reached up to hold her arm back.

“No, Anna, the trap opened by itself. He didn’t set it.” She didn’t think that he even _could_ have, at least. She hadn’t been chased for more than a minute or two before getting caught, so there was really only one explanation as to why it was open this early. Grimacing down at the feeling of her rapid pulse beating in her ankle, she said, “I was being chased by Michael, so I didn’t think to look for traps..” She gave a brief glance over to him as she spoke, who proved to still be staring at her behind his pale, emotionless facade in the same patient and unrevealing stance he always held.

At this, Anna slowly lowered her hatchet and clipped it back onto her belt. Pulling her eyes away from The Trapper, she looked down at her girlfriend curiously, surprised that she was defending him. The smell of blood filled her nose, and she got hit with a wave of nausea. She _hated_ seeing her in pain like this again, and Anna felt so helpless. It broke her heart. There was nothing she could do about the trap; the Entity did not intend to have killer’s powers interact with each other while in a trial. She looked back up to Evan with a softer expression.

He coughed, but it really just sounded like pressure escaping from behind his mask. “Um, let me get that trap off of you,” he said awkwardly. He cautiously started walking towards the two of them, keeping careful eyes on the hunter as he tried to appear more confidently nonthreatening in his motions. Anna backed up only by an inch, still keeping a critical glance towards him. It wasn’t like she didn’t believe or trust Evan, but her nerves were already on edge. She had to be ready to react.

With a cry of pain and the echo of a trap snapping open sounding throughout the dim asylum, the survivor was freed out of the bear trap. Anna was there to support her damaged body so that she didn’t have to put any pressure on her broken ankle. Evan picked up his trap and took a few strides back, looking down and away from the both of them.

“Are you okay, dorogaya moya?” 

Mariya shifted her position so that they were now hugging, and she rested her head down on her shoulder. “Yes, I’m fine..” she breathed. “Nothing I haven’t felt before, _haha_.” 

That last part pierced through Anna’s heart. By the small noise that escaped from the survivor, followed by her tightened hug, Anna thought she sensed feelings of remorse: as though Mariya thought that she shouldn’t have said that.

She wasn’t angry at her for it.

Mariya broke away from their hug to look her in the eyes, Anna’s firm hands still resting at her sides to offer stability. “I just need to find a med kit,” she exclaimed, painfully smiling up at Anna with bargainer's hope gleaming in her eyes. Anna forced a saddened smile back at her. She just couldn’t be upset at her, either.

 _When will we catch a break?_ she wondered as she leaned in to softly kiss her forehead and helped her up into a standing position, allowing Mariya to use her tall body as a crutch. They started their trek around the realm to look for something to patch up her up, with Evan and Michael trailing slowly behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "dorogaya moya" - my dear


	18. A Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This chapter and the last were inspired by Lillysillylol's "Blood On Pale Petals" work on Deviantart, specifically the second chapter "A Sheep Among Wolves."
> 
> Read their work [here](https://www.deviantart.com/lillysillylol/art/Blood-On-Pale-Petals-708576351) and [here](https://www.deviantart.com/lillysillylol/art/A-Sheep-Among-Wolves-720615153) <3
> 
> See end notes for translations.

*****

It wasn’t long before they stumbled upon a brightly colored yellow and orange chest, brimming with any number of possibilities in its contents. Anna carefully helped Mariya to lower herself back onto the ground so that she could search its contents, minding the fact that she couldn’t put as much pressure on her dominant ankle as normal.

Evan had been picking up his traps as he saw them. He was absolutely certain that Anna wouldn’t hesitate to stick a hatchet in his body if Mariya got trapped again. Thankfully, she stopped Anna from doing exactly that a few minutes ago. He felt a little bad, but how could he have known that this situation could possibly happen? He knew that Anna was just being protective. He couldn’t help but wonder why the survivor bothered stopping her, though. He could not tell whether it was out of the goodness of her own heart or if it had been some sort of repayment for sparing her life in Anna’s realm. Or even, perhaps, for attempting to spare her life under Anna’s request at all, though it was rare that that opportunity actually arose.

The sound of a box being opened was loud, but not loud enough to muffle the sound of shuffling grass nearby. Anna instinctively raised another hatchet at the noise, ready to nail whoever or whatever might dare come close enough to the two of them. Mariya paused her search to follow her eyes over to where she had been looking, but she couldn’t see anyone from her crouched position.

Anna slacked the hatchet when she noticed a pig’s snout poking through the thick underbrush. A small, mumbled _“what?”_ escaped from the patch of grass before Amanda stood up from her couched position, tremendously confused as to why she saw Anna, Evan, Michael, and one survivor all in the same place.

Mariya looked up at the new figure before her and widened her eyes in realization. “W-wait,” she stammered, giving a quick glance around at the four others surrounding her as she put the pieces together. “Am I really the only survivor here???”

More than one killer in a single trial was weird enough, but _four_ of them? How was the trial ever supposed to function like that? She wouldn’t have stood a chance.

“I haven’t seen anyone else,” Amanda simply stated.

“Neither have I,” The Trapper joined.

Mariya looked over face Anna, desperate for her answer. She pursed her lips together and shook her head no. 

The lone survivor gave an exaggerated huff out as a baffled _“What is going on?”_ escaped her lips. She blinked several times, uncomprehending, and passed a hand down her cheek, pulling her face down along with it as she shook her head before she returned her attention back towards the box. She flipped over the last few scrap pieces of garbage and frayed cloth to finally reveal a yellow med kit. A lucky find for the first try, all things considered.

“Beats me,” Amanda mumbled as she eyed the med kit in their hands, her eyes then trailing over to the rest of the survivor’s body, seeing no obvious wounds on her limbs before catching sight of the small pool of blood that was soaking into the dirt beneath her right side. She pulled her glance up slightly and rested it at the mangled flesh of what used to be a functioning ankle. She inspected the wound curiously; she’s never seen the full extent of the damage of one of Evan’s traps firsthand before. She had to admit, it was rather impressive for such a bulky and simple device. She finally pulled her snout up to meet the survivor’s eyes. “I’m just as confused as you are.”

Amanda sensed something watching her and looked over to Michael, only to see that his attention lie elsewhere. Instead, Anna proved to be watching her every move critically, as though she was waiting for her to pounce at any given moment.

She did a few double takes between the survivor and the hare that was still standing above her over-protectively before she pulled her snout away from the both of them to show her clemency. She realized that her over-examination of the survivor could have easily been taken as a threat.

The Pig didn’t question the absurdity of the situation too much. She understood only enough to say: “Just tell me if you need anything from me.” She knew this wasn’t a trial where anyone was going to die.

The Huntress nodded at her offer, forcing herself to relax. They wouldn’t dare hurt her while she was still here, even if the Entity demanded it. She looked down at her lover, each with their own conflicted expressions written across their faces. The survivor molded her expression into one of reassurance as she smiled up at Anna and began to heal themselves. After a few moments and a now properly standing survivor, Mariya proclaimed, “The Entity must not have wanted me to heal, it was really difficult to use this med kit.”

Anna pulled her face into a pout at this. What was that supposed to mean?

“…Why _are_ there no other survivors?” Everyone looked at The Trapper, who finally broke the frigid silence they all found themselves in.

“Punishment, maybe?…” Anna said softly after some time, eyes heavy as they fell to the ground. She fixated her attention on a single blade of grass before continuing. “For not ever trying to sacrifice her…for disobeying the Entity. Why else would we all be put into a trial with her instead of any other survivor? Things like this never happened before she arrived into this realm...” Anna sighed up at the sky, observing its falsely comforting clouds and dull color. What she wouldn’t give to be back at the cabin; to be able to hold the person she loved once again without the fear of things happening that were outside of her control. Nothing this strange had happened in the trials until now.

“It’s a test?” Amanda asked.

“I don’t know. I would never hurt her, so maybe the Entity wanted one of you to instead? To have me to see her in pain?...” _To numb me to it, she speculated._ If Mariya was caught by someone else first and she had ended up being hooked, then Anna would have been forced to watch her die. No one would have been able to save her. She didn’t have to say that part aloud to the group, but her blood boiled at the mere thought.

“That’s fucked up.”

Mariya chimed in, even though she didn’t have any surefire answers, either. “We don’t know with any certainty why this happened, but I do know that we can’t stay here forever. I could, uh, repair enough generators to find the hatch?” She didn’t want to think about any number of the Entity’s possible motivations right now.

“I guess we have no other choice,” Macmillan proclaimed.  

Mariya reached for her partner’s hand, and they gladly accepted it. “Then let’s go.”

 

 

*****

The group started walking toward the nearest outline of a generator that they could see. While Mariya started repairing the first generator, some killers sat idly. Others walked around. Anna naturally took her spot next to Mariya and watched her skillfully twist wires together and connect this to that and tighten certain mysterious metal components as she loosened others. She never really had the opportunity to just idly watch how a generator was repaired before, and she found it interesting. Although, it felt incredibly odd and unnatural to allow this to happen. Despite this, she wished she could just reach right in and find some way to help her or ask her to show her how to do so. 

However, killers physically were not able to help repair the generators – the Entity prevented this. Their purpose was to stop generator progression, not encourage it. Another thing they all had in common was the Entity’s voice in their ears, calling upon them to attack the sole survivor and to feed It. The whispers were strong and incessant, and they were steadily growing a foreboding nuance to them as time went on.

Anna, of course, ignored these constant demands. _Not a chance in hell, no matter what happened_. Amanda and Evan were strong enough to stave off their instincts to kill. Michael, however, was becoming more active than usual. He started pacing, and then started moving a bit away from the group.

“WAIT! Don’t step-”

 **_*SNAP_ ** _*_

“there..” MacMillan put his hand to his mask. Of course, the _one_ trap he didn’t pick up.

“Why the hell are you setting traps?” Amanda demanded, folding her arms across her chest and shooting a glance over at the survivor, who temporarily paused in her repairs at the disturbance.

“I _didn’t_. I have iridescent stones on these traps; they open on their own. And I can’t see my traps until I’m a certain distance from them,” he hissed, the last part containing a seething intensity to his voice. _Why the fuck would I be setting traps in this situation? he thought._ He brushed it off and moved to un-trap Michael. 

Aside from the grunt of pain that came from Michael when he first stepped into the bear trap, he seemed otherwise unfazed. He just stood there staring at his mangled left ankle. Even when Evan forced open the serrated jaws of the trap, no other sound came from him.

_He certainly is unnerving, Mariya thought._

  

 

*****

One generator done. 

Mariya couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for Michael after the generator had been completed. As they moved to the next generator, she watched him try to hide his limp as he had resorted to occasionally sitting down or leaning against a pile of scraps to get off of his foot for a while before moving again. When they arrived at the second and final generator, she knew she had to do _something_. Michael never, _ever_ sits.

It dawned upon her that she still had a bit of the med-kit left.

It was certainly a dangerous idea. She didn’t know if it was even enough to heal him fully, but she couldn’t just leave him as he was. Guilt started eating away at her, and her empathetic side got the better of her. It was worth trying, right? She much preferred to err on the side of caution, but something in her was very strongly telling her that she should do this. Before she started on the next generator, she moved away from it and Anna’s side, acting on a gut feeling.

“Mariya..” Anna started to protest, shaking her head slightly and reaching out a hand for her.

“I’ll be okay. Trust me.”

“I do trust you; it’s him I don’t trust,” she said quietly as she looked from her to Michael.

Mariya glanced at Michael out of the corner of her eye. He was still resting idly against a pile of scraps. “He won’t hurt me with you guys watching.” 

Anna read her uncertain posture instantly. “You don’t know that. What if he does?”

“I go against this guy a lot, Anna. Even if he does, I’ll still be fine. He can’t instantly kill me.” _At least not without stalking a bunch of other people first, she thought._

A soft sigh escaped from the killer’s lips. “I don’t understand. Why do you want to do this?” 

Mariya slowly lifted and opened up her palm absently before returning her hand to her side. She kept her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know. You taught me to trust my gut instincts, remember?”

Anna pulled her head up in surprise but stayed silent. Of course she knew the importance of following instinct, but most of that applied to other situations _not_ in the Entity’s realm. However, she was unable to come up with a proper counter argument. 

Mariya took a step closer and tried reassuring her with a simple squeeze of the hand and a soft smile before letting her go, but Anna was beyond apprehensive. She knew she couldn’t force her to not go towards Myers, but she also knew how dangerous he was. He was the most cold and ruthless killer the Entity ever brought into this realm. Of course, he never once listened to her requests to spare Mariya. She wholeheartedly did not like him. However, she trusted Mariya’s judgement.

Anna locked eyes with Myers, and he locked eyes with her. She glared at him and kept her hand at her hatchet belt, just in case. If he _dared_ lay a finger on her, she would make sure he would pay the ultimate price. Evan was still standing near Michael, already clutching his jagged cleaver firmly in his hand, but Amanda walked closer to stand by Anna and extended the blade from her sleeve in solidarity.

The survivor cautiously walked up to the masked man. Her heart rate steadily increasing, she remembered just how many times this man has killed her. He was ruthless in his tactics. There was no feeling or mercy in the way he killed. He killed just to _kill_. Nevertheless, she still wanted to help, even if she didn’t understand why just yet. 

“Uh, I’m not sure if this will actually help, but I can try bandaging your wounds with what I have left?” she offered as she motioned to the med kit in her hands.

There was no response. Michael knew he was being watched like a hawk from all angles. If he made any sudden movements, he would just end up with a hatchet in his body before anything else. The voices wouldn’t stop and he was itching to kill the survivor so badly, but he couldn’t. Not this time. He had to stay still. He decided a very slight nod would suffice.

“Okay, then.”

He was utterly perplexed as to why this survivor was trying to heal him. Surely, she must know that this wouldn’t change anything. He’s killed her more times than he could count, yet here she was trying to wrap his ankle in leftover bandages. He couldn’t understand.

 

 

*****

“There…that will have to do.” Mariya looked at her work, stood up, and took several steps away from Michael. Anna already started trotting over to her, and Michael ever so slowly tried to stand up, watching the masked woman carefully as she approached them. The bandaging wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t in that much pain anymore. After a time of staring at his ankle with his head tilted to one side, he pulled his head up slowly. Another slight nod.

Everyone exhaled, relieving some tension.

Mariya turned away from Michael and went to hug Anna.

Her embrace was warm and soft, and Anna stroked her hair absentmindedly as she became enveloped by her sweet scent. Anna whispered, “I was so worried...”

The only thing she could say in response was: “I know. I’m sorry for worrying you.” She hugged Anna even tighter after she felt her understanding nod against her shoulder, and she took a big breath in as she exhaled the last of her anxieties along with it. She hated making her worry, but she felt like she had to do something. You had to trust your gut instincts, after all. 

“You are brave, lyubimaya moya,” Anna said as they gently swayed in each other’s arms. Mariya couldn’t help but to smile at this. With a final squeeze, they broke the hug. One more generator to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "lyubimaya moya" - my love


	19. Possibilities

*****

The second generator popped with an air of dread to it. The Entity was clearly not pleased at the result of this trial. The feeling was so strong that everyone in the realm could sense the sudden change in the air, which became thicker and quickly suffocating. It was difficult to even breathe in because it felt like breathing in murky, polluted fog, except this didn’t quite scratch at the lungs in the same way. 

Mariya instinctively looked over at Anna to check on her. She was staring at the ground and appeared uneasy and distracted. The survivor pulled her face into a frown; they both knew what happens when the Entity becomes displeased. She walked over to reassuringly grab ahold of her hand and rubbed the back of it softly with her thumb.

Anna gasped and jumped back a little at her touch, quickly withdrawing her hand and tensing her muscles. She seemed to partially snap out of her daze, but she was now looking down at Mariya with an expression similar to that of one of the villagers when they came across a northern viper. She didn’t quite seem to recognize where she was.

“I’m sorry…” the survivor whispered as she pulled her hands back close towards her chest and stood still. She was wary of making any more sudden movements towards her.

Anna gave a quick glance all around herself and then looked back at down at Mariya before recognition finally flashed before her and she audibly let out a sigh of relief in response. Her shoulders slowly returned to a normal position, and she pulled Mariya closer against her in an embrace, soon running her fingers through the full length of the survivor’s hair and resting her cheek upon her head. The survivor carefully wrapped her arms around The Huntress’ waist and rested her head against her chest in return, not appreciating its quickened rise and fall as she felt her girlfriend try to steady her breathing.

Mariya furrowed her eyebrows at Anna’s initial startled reaction. She’s never jumped at her touch before… but maybe she should have been more considerate about what must have been going through her head before reaching out to touch her like that. She felt guilty and made a mental note to just call out her name next time instead. 

“Alright you lovebirds, now let’s find this hatch and get out of here,” Amanda said. There was a sense of urgency and panic that she couldn’t hide from her voice.

The two reluctantly pulled back from their hug and interlaced their fingers together instead. Amanda faced a random direction and turned her head back towards Evan and Michael.

“You coming?”

“Yes,” The Trapper said. Michael stayed silent as usual but started walking forwards, affirming his decision.

As they walked, Mariya couldn’t help but to keep giving worryful, side-eyed glances at Anna. Despite her best efforts to keep them stealthy, it was often enough that the masked huntress started to notice. 

Mariya felt a gentle squeeze at her taken hand, and a quiet “I’m okay,” came from Anna. Her blue-green eyes flickered up and rested on her mask, trying to read past the dark of it that was shielding her eyes, but at any rate, her small, forced smile still revealed everything Mariya needed to know. She did seem more mellowed out though, so she tried to let it go for now. Her worrying would just cause Anna to worry and she didn’t need that right now, so Mariya just smiled and nodded her head. 

In due time, the sound of escape for the survivor drew closer and closer.

The four killers and the survivor stood just beyond the black box embed in the ground, the quiet but discernible hum drowning out all other noise in the realm.

“Can you give us a few moments, please?” Mariya asked the bunch as she and Anna moved to further stand over the hatch. 

“Of course,” Amanda said, who turned around and joined up with MacMillan and Myers as they all made some distance away from the two of them.

Anna leaned down and took both of Mariya’s hands in her own, giving her the best smile she could manage to give her.

Mariya reclaimed a hand to caress Anna’s face, lightly brushing her thumb over some of the faint scars that lay themselves permanently along her roughened skin. Anna put her hand over Mariya’s at her cheek and tilted her head into her palm, a genuine smile soon replacing its counterfeit. She then closed her eyes to soak up her touch as she slid her fingers in between the cracks of Mariya’s.

The survivor smiled as they then moved to kiss her opposite cheek and wrap her arms around her, snuggling her face in Anna’s veil.

“I don’t think the Entity can hear us this close to the hatch,” Mariya said, suddenly more resolute and serious.

“Mariya?” Anna asked, confused as to the sudden shift in her behavior.

“I have an idea on how we could escape…but you can’t let the Entity see that we’re talking.”

Anna moved her head so that her mouth and chin were against Mariya’s shoulder.

“Perfect. Okay. So, I found notes from a previous survivor that is no longer in this realm while I was wandering through the far edge of the forest around our campfire. I don’t know exactly what happened to them, and I really, truly wish I could think of another way of escaping, but it eludes me. This is the only thing me and the others could think of after reading his journal.” 

She paused. “You know that the Entity forces you to sacrifice us for It’s own power, right? That’s why It tortures you if you don’t kill enough.” Mariya tightened her hold on Anna.

“Please hear me out. I would never ask you to endure something like this if you didn’t want to or if you felt like you couldn't, and it’s your choice, but I think we can weaken the Entity by refusing to participate in It’s games, including for survivors. I have a feeling that doing generators also weakens It’s power, because, according to the journal, anything that has to do with light or using Its own power against It harms It. It’s why flashlights can stun you, and how they can burn Wraith while he’s uncloaking. It may or may not be by the Entity’s choice that these counters to It’s power exist, but they do. If all of the killers don’t make sacrifices to the Entity, then it must become weaker. Survivors will only do enough generators to get out…no items, no chases, only the barebones minimum.”

Anna raised her eyebrows up behind her mask. _“Do not let the light in”_ she mumbled as she found herself repeating one of the Entity’s earliest demands as her eyes widened in realization. Anna thought considerably for a bit as her mind raced, incredulous but taking in what Mariya was telling her. “That makes sense, but It’ll just torture us, Mariya…It’ll be much worse than before.”

“I know.” Her voice was beginning to waver. She didn’t want anyone to be tortured for the possibility of freedom. “But what other option do we have? Again, I would _never_ expect you to go through this. It kills me enough already to see you in pain…but I just wanted to let you know what we thought of.” 

Anna thought for a long time, toying with the idea. She wanted so desperately to be free of the Entity’s control, but the idea seemed like a faraway, impossible dream. It was incredibly dangerous to be defiant of the Entity, and even though that’s exactly how Anna was while with Mariya, total mutiny was an entirely different story. It had untold consequences. However, maybe there was a chance it could work? With every fiber of her being she longed to be back at their cabin with Mariya in the forest, like nothing had ever happened. She was tired of being forced to kill every day.

Maybe other killers felt the same way? But would they be willing to endure torture to be free? 

The killer sighed resolutely. “It already tortures me because I refuse to harm you. I would give anything for the chance to be with you again.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to decide right now, you know.” 

“What do you mean, ‘am I sure,’ I love you more than anything, Mariya! I will try anything to be free again. Even if it doesn’t work.” She gave her a reaffirming kiss on the shoulder.

Mariya took a moment to collect herself. “Okay. It’s going to be an all-or-nothing effort, though. If you do talk to the others about it, please be careful!”

“It won’t let us fight in our realm; don’t worry. I’ll talk to them about it.” Anna pulled back and pressed her lips against the survivor’s. “I love you, Mariya.”

“I love you, too.” Mariya smiled and nuzzled her face back into her veil, giving her one last hug before leaving.

Suddenly, Mariya pulled back and looked down at her torn top. She took ahold of one of the small sewn on cotton flowers adorning it and ripped it off by the singular stitch securing it to the shirt. She checked to make sure that the design was still intact and then extended it out to Anna, holding it in between her thumb and first two fingers.

“Take this. If we do this, we’ll probably end up separated again, but I want you to keep this as a reminder that I’m always with you; no matter what happens.” Mariya gave her a devoted smile. 

Anna took the decorative piece and flashed a wide, toothy grin at her survivor. “Thank you. I’ll cherish it.” She carefully put the flower into one of the pouches along her belt, securing it safely. Her smile somehow grew larger as she was struck with an idea. She nimbly removed the ring from her right hand and offered it to Mariya in the same fashion. “It’s only fair that I give you something as well.”

The survivor’s cheeks flushed deeply with pink, but she didn’t hesitate to take the ring from her. Examining her own hands, she tested the ring out on her left thumb first. It fit perfectly. Mariya observed the shiny metal for a few moments with a bashful grin on her face before pulling up her gaze to meet Anna’s, who now had the remnants of her own blush gracing her features.

“C’mere, you,” Mariya cooed as she pulled her in for another long embrace, and Anna’s chuckle was like music to her ears.

The survivor had one more thing to say. “Don’t let the Entity take your heart again,” she whispered as she placed her hand over the spot where it would have been.

Anna’s heart swelled with a cascade of different emotions. “I don’t plan on it.”

They shared a parting kiss before Mariya grabbed onto the ladder of the hatch.

As Anna watched her partner climb down the hatch, she heard the grass ruffling behind her. She turned around and saw MacMillan facing her.

“I, uh. Really underestimated what you two have together,” he said simply.

Anna could only begin smile in response before the black smoke wrapped around them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea that the Entity is weak to light was taken from the DBD Forums. [Here](https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/5278/the-entitys-weakness-revealed-and-proved) is the link - I think it has a lot of interesting implications and I really like this theory!


	20. Consequences

**

**_“You never listen, do you?”_ **

When Anna was aware of her surroundings again, her heart sunk in her chest. She knew this would happen, but she did not expect it to be so soon after her last trial with Mariya.

She narrowed her eyes at the familiar void space in front of her, eyes seeing little through the pitch blackness of her confinement. “I have killed for you every single day, but it’s never enough is it?” she said with a rasping tone, a sense of defiance and resentment mixing in her voice. 

Dull onyx, spider-like tendrils that appeared to come from nowhere loomed closer to her face, quickly sliding and pressing into her cheek and causing a small stream of blood to pour from the newly-placed cut.

**_“You would do well to watch what you say around me.”_ **

Anna instinctively turned her head away from the bladed point with her eyes downcast before it finally retracted, and she allowed herself to look back straight ahead. She didn’t say anything to this remark. She simply furrowed her brows, mentally preparing herself for what was to come. She had learned to withdraw herself from reality to lessen her pain from these increasingly common sessions with the Entity. She received them almost every time Mariya and her met. The only way she could keep her sanity was to become numb and accept what was going to happen to her. She couldn’t change her circumstances, so there was no point in trying to do anything other than this.

She felt a jerk on her left arm that abruptly pulled it away from her core, but she turned her head in the opposite direction again and balled her first. She felt something wrap up her arm to keep it in place before the arrow-like tip of a tendril pierced her forearm. It stung, but she refused to react much to it. Until it started to dig deeper. 

**_“I expect you to answer me when I speak to you.”_ **

Anna pulled her head back and glared at the conglomeration from which the tendrils came out of. She despised this _thing_ more than anything. Suddenly, she didn’t care about what she said anymore. No matter what she would say, each time it all gave her the same end result. It didn’t stop the punishments. So why does it matter? 

“Do what you will to me,” she muttered, closing her eyes and withdrawing herself even more.  

**_“You’re so foolish.”_ **

The tendril that penetrated her arm burrowed even deeper into her skin, causing her to grit her teeth and wince in pain despite her best efforts to block it out. Her entire forearm felt like someone was pressing hot, burning coals into her skin, and Anna could have sworn she soon felt the slight cracks of two bones beginning to break as the tendril appeared out of the other side of her arm. She cracked open her eyes to see blood steadily dripping from the tip of Its blade-like figure.

She’d like to think she would have gotten used to this sensation, but she didn’t. Her breathing quickened, but she covered her mouth with her other hand and tightly clenched her teeth together to prevent herself from crying out.

**_“You will sacrifice her for me.”_ **

Out of fear, she decided it was best to not refuse to say anything this time. She had gained a feel for how much she could get away with at one time, and she already overstepped a boundary. The Entity had become obsessed with the idea of her sacrificing Mariya, all because that was when Anna killed the least in a trial, and killing the other survivors was no longer enough. They were trying to get rid of the problem at its source.

“You can’t expect me to do the impossible,” she breathed.

**_“It’s not impossible. She’s no different than any of the others. Meat must be sacrificed.”_ **

There was a deliberate pause.

 ** _“These sessions would end if you even made the attempt.”_**  

She knew It was lying immediately. It would never be enough. Even if she _could_ ever bring herself to hurt Mariya, even just resorting to hooking her once, it would not be enough to satiate the Entity. It would continue to coerce her until she would eventually kill her. It was a slippery slope that had no finish line. But what was she going to do now that It specifically demanded for her love’s blood by her hands? 

A cold shiver went down her spine at the thought. It didn’t matter that she wouldn’t actually be killing her, she knew the effect a sacrifice had on Mariya. She could never hurt her like that. If she ever intentionally hurt Mariya, then she would truly become a monster and she would never be able to forgive herself. Everything would be lost again, and she would be back to being nothing more than a numb appendage of the Entity. She had to hold on to her humanity; it was the only way to fight back.

“ _I can’t_ ,” she rasped. If only she could have just shown It early on that sacrificing the others would have been enough to satiate It’s hunger… and yet, she had _just_ agreed to not killing anyone. Her shoulders felt incredibly heavily, as though they were bearing the weight of a thousand elk.

**_“Can’t? Or won’t?”_ **

The cold voice snapped her back to reality, and she growled in frustration. “Both!” she yelled.

More tendrils started growing up from the ground around her.

 ** _“You’re even more stubborn than when I first brought you here.”_**  

A tendril materialized and quickly stabbed through her abdomen, sending a shockwave through her core and stealing all of her breath from her. She silently cried out in agony, buckling over and coughing a bit as blood began to drip from her mouth and she struggled to regain her breath. As soon as the initial shock was over, she was back inside her protective cocoon.

The Entity slowly pulled out its tendril, and her wound began to mend itself back together. It only did this with life-threatening wounds; others It would leave until It best saw fit.

**_“Are you ready to cooperate?”_ **

The masked huntress stalled for a bit, clutching her abdomen as it healed and staring down at the ground as she drew in long, deliberate breaths. Her mind started to race. She couldn’t just say no, because that would be held against her and she was terrified of being stabbed like that again. So, she toyed with a different way of saying the same thing, but she ended up just sounding like a broken record.

“I can’t kill her,” she mewled.

She flinched as another shape mercilessly sliced open her upper leg, while others wrapped around her free wrists and lifted them up above her head to keep her constrained. She felt the wet warmth of the incision drip down to her feet. 

Her heart was pounding with adrenaline and the felt the sweat begin to bead off of her forehead. _This will all be over soon enough, she thought._ Soon enough the Entity would stop, once she had received enough punishment and swore to It that she would do better. Soon enough It would heal her completely, and soon enough it would be as though nothing had ever happened. She just had to last until then.

 ** _“It’s a shame, really. You were such a good pet for a while.”_**  

She tried to shut out the Entity’s voice, but it was so pervasive and invading.

**_“But you decided to betray me, after all I’ve done for you. I even brought her here as a reward and it still wasn’t enough.”_ **

Anna started to feel dizzy from the pain. She knew what the Entity was trying to do to her by saying things like this; she talked about it with Mariya often enough, and she knew exactly what it was. She couldn’t let it affect her anymore. This Being only ever wanted to hurt and control her. She had to get out!

The deep incisions and gaping wounds hurt like hell, and she kept her eyes closed to continue blocking out the pain. She felt something small quickly graze against her back and couldn’t help but to jolt slightly as chills were sent up her spine. The graze started to burn like she had just been stung by a wasp, and she felt another one appear on her right arm shortly after. She finally opened her eyes up slightly to see small strands hover above her skin before embedding themselves in her like a needle, causing a cut less than an inch long. Every few moments, more of these smaller wounds appeared along various parts of her body, each feeling like the quick jab of a needle through her skin.

She clenched and unclenched her fists together and dropped her head down to the ground; she felt helpless and her blood simmered at the thought of not being able to do anything to fight back. Even if she could physically fight back, it would do nothing but cause another whirlwind of consequences for her. 

Her anger turned to mellowness as the Entity drew this process out for what felt like hours, causing her to agonizingly wait for the next nick to eventually appear somewhere on her body. With each new mark, the Entity’s voice degraded into barely-comprehensible whispers akin to what she occasionally heard in trials, comprising of nothing more than “feed” and “sacrifice meat” while it attempted to drill it into her head.

She could no longer watch the wounds be placed or expect where the next nick could possibly appear, because occasionally the Entity would act like it was going to cut her by hovering a tendril above her skin but she would then be caught by surprise as her skin became torn elsewhere. The two types of conflicting pain – the quick, sharp incisions and the gnawing intensity of the older, more deadly wounds – demanded her attention and it became more difficult to block the pain out. It left her cold, clammy, and unable to catch her breath. The smell of sweat and blood was nauseating. 

**_“Will you sacrifice the survivor?”_ **

A dangerous tone.

Tears started to stream down her cheeks. She almost wanted to say yes just to get It to stop hurting her, but she knew this would have far worse consequences later on if she couldn’t own up to her own words. The only thing she could do is wait until It was done with her, or until she had begged enough to get It to stop. Begging didn’t work the last few times, though; she was far beyond the point where that would work. 

“I told you! I can’t kill her. The others and I feed you so much already…” she insisted, though she knew there was no reasoning with the Entity.

As soon as the words were done coming out of her mouth, she knew they were a mistake and not what It wanted to hear. A tendril stabbed through her shoulder, sending explosive pain through her skull with a hot, blinding whiteness. She threw her head back and howled out in anguish. Again, the tendril pulled out of her body and her flesh magically sewed back together. Panting heavily as her skin felt like it was on fire and her body felt like jello, she wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take. She was sure she would have collapsed to the ground if she was not still being held up by her wrists. 

“Let…let me just kill the others instead…” she struggled in between breaths.

When there was no response, her head dropped and her shoulders sagged. Why was she still trying to bargain with It? The tendrils seemed to be curiously observing her, and she stood awaiting their next move.

_I have to be strong, she persuaded herself._

However, Anna felt so drained and just wanted this to be over.

 _I will be strong for her._  

One of her arms was forced into a straightened, horizontal position. She took a sharp breath in and held it as she tensed and squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation. _Soon enough this will all be over._

_I._

Another crooked shape pressed Its razor-like tip against her extended upper arm, feeling like yet another wasp sting among hundreds.

_Will._

The Entity slowly dragged the tip against her vulnerable skin, following down the length of her arm tediously and unforgivably as her blood started to steadily leech out. Anna let her tears flow and pulled her lips back over her grit teeth.

_Not._

A tendril found Itself against the center of her hollowed and empty chest. She closed her eyes and accepted what was about to happen. 

 _“STOP!”_ a voice cried out.

Anna’s heart certainly did. She flew open her eyes and hazily saw Mariya standing a ways away in front of her, crying and being held back by several of her own spider-like appendages around her limbs.

 _“N-NO!”_ Anna wailed, leaning forwards and tugging at the vines. She couldn’t believe what was happening. “Damn you! Do whatever you want with me, but do not hurt her!” She was frantically trying pull away from the tendrils that held her in place, but she couldn’t escape the Entity’s grasp. She stood there, bleeding and helpless.

**_“I already have. But I think we need to give you some motivation.”_ **

_“Please!!”_ she begged. Her breathing turned erratic as she looked back and forth between her lover and the Entity’s figure. She started sobbing. “I’ll do _anything_ else! She’s the only person I have left!”

**_“I will give you one last chance. Now, either you can kill her, or I will. Which will it be? Choose wisely.”_ **

The unforgiving, guttural voice made her sick to her stomach. She didn’t want either option to happen, and she stalled. After a few seconds and no reply, a razor-tipped tendril materialized out of the ground and slashed against Mariya’s stomach, causing her to cry out and fold over in agony. 

Anna’s heart broke into pieces. _This can’t be happening! she thought. The Entity isn’t supposed to be able to torture survivors!_

“Anna..” Mariya called out. She gazed up away from her blood-soaked palm to face her with a determined look in her eyes as she replaced her hand over her torn stomach. “Listen to me, this isn’t real. This is just a part of It’s game. It can’t actually hurt me, b-”

A vine interrupted her and wrapped around her neck, forcing her to stand back upright.

**_“Be quiet.”_ **

Mariya winced in pain. She looked over to face Anna and slowly turned back as she rolled her shoulders and gave a bitter smile at the botanical vines enveloped around her neck. “I think you’re forgetting who you’re talking to. I don’t have to answer to you. None of us do.”

The air became thick and suffocating. The vine that had wrapped around her neck slammed Mariya to the ground, momentarily knocking her unconscious. Anna’s heart pounded in agony as she watched on in horror.

**_“Make your choice.”_ **

Anna deeply admired Mariya’s fearlessness in the face of Death. Her act of pure defiance struck something deep within Anna. She was right. The Entity could torture her however much It would like, but it could never force her to obey It. Not ever again.

Anna kept her gaze on her beloved and after a few moments, she stood up straighter and spoke with a newfound firmness to her voice. “I won’t kill her.” If she was going to die either way, then it wouldn’t be by her hands.

Mariya lifted up her head again, groaning in pain as she stirred awake. The Entity immediately and roughly flipped her over on to her back. Mariya turned her head so she could face Anna.

“I love you,” she said.

The Entity plunged several strands of smaller, spider-like branches into Mariya’s chest. Anna squeezed her eyes shut and tried to avert her gaze as the survivor’s body became limp, but the Entity’s webs forced her to look keep looking straight ahead.

Black and orange smoke wrapped around Mariya’s body and she vanished. For some reason, it vaguely reminded her of a what a completed sacrifice looked like in a trial.

The Entity curled a tendril around Anna’s cheek, “caressing” her in a mocking gesture.

**_“Remember when I told you to choose wisely?”_ **

Anna waited for a few seconds until she realized it was a direct question.

“Yes,” she said plainly. Her mind felt numb and she was still trying to process what she had just seen.

 ** _“Good. Because if I killed her, it would be permanent.”_**  

Anna just stood there dumbly. She almost thought she didn’t hear It properly. 

“What?”

**_“You heard me.”_ **

Anna’s heart thundered in her chest and hysteria began to take over her thoughts. _It has to be lying, she thought. There was no way, this was all not real. It can’t be real. It couldn’t be real!_

**_“This would have never happened if you would have only listened. It’s all your fault.”_ **

“No!”

 ** _“I hope you made the right decision.”_**  

_“SHUT UP!”_

It was taunting her now. Even though this place held no sense of time, everything around her seemed to come to a halt.

She stubbornly refused to believe that Mariya was actually dead. It had to be toying with her. It just had to be. It did this all of the time. Mariya said that this was just a part of It’s game; but she didn't deserve to be used as a pawn! Anna mentally cursed herself; she was the only one that had been disobedient in their trials! She was the only one that deserved punishment! But the Entity couldn’t just outright kill a survivor, right? Why else would It force the killers to do it in It’s place? 

Suddenly, a tendril slammed into the back of her spine, bursting through her chest. Anna bellowed out and wrapped her hands around it in shock. As she continued gripping the appendage, she watched as the crimson red stained her sweaty, trembling hands.

“Burn in Hell,” she spat between labored breaths. Her vision had started to narrow, and she felt her grip on the world begin to slip.

**_“I am Hell.”_ **

And with that, the darkness consumed her.


	21. Alone?

*****

When Anna regained consciousness, she found that she was in an area she’s seen many, many times before. It was yet another form of punishment for disobeying the Entity. The area was very dimly lit and vastly expansive; the region seemed to go on forever. She could hardly see anything in front of her. There were no obvious structures, colors, sounds, or even textures that she could see, hear, or feel. Everything was dull and empty.

She laid on the ground with her legs curled up to her chest. She figured that the Entity put her in this realm alone, so that she would not even have the chance to talk to the others about Mariya’s plan for escape.

_It wasn’t fair._

A dark, numbing fog washed over her mind. She sat there for hours and hours, barely moving or doing anything at all. She tried to hum a lullaby for her own comfort at some point, but no sound ever reached her ears. She was sense deprived in every connotation of the word. 

She could have sworn she started to see things moving in the dark; simple hallucinatory images created to fill in the blank space of her prison, but she glued her eyes shut and stayed in her own thoughts. She didn’t want to feel threatened by things that weren’t even real.

Eventually, she remembered that Mariya had given her something. Keeping her eyes closed, her hand automatically found itself against the small leather pouch that she remembered putting it into. She reached in and pulled out the soft cotton object. Unable to properly see the adornment in the dark, she resorted to rubbing it in between her fingers, finding great comfort in having something of hers that was actually tangible.

She couldn’t stop the tears from flowing as the visualization of her being stabbed by the Entity resurfaced, and the deep ache in her chest was unbearable. For the first time since their reunion, she wondered if it would have been better or easier for her if she had found some way to just hook her early on; if she had found some way to make it as quick and as painless as possible. She wouldn’t be here right now, and she might have been able to see her more often. However, she just couldn’t find the willpower to lay a hand on her that contained anything other than a gentle, loving touch. Mariya was precious to her; she couldn’t find it within herself to hurt the only person who needed her just as much as she did, and she didn’t want Mariya to fear her like she did with the other killers.

She pulled the item closer to her chest, enfolding it in her palm as she curled up into a ball. She didn’t know why Mariya had always been so heavily affected after a sacrifice. Every survivor felt drained, but her blurry memories mirrored that of her own experiences.

She wondered, if that had not been the case, if Mariya would have been okay with a more obedient kind of life. However, that wasn’t that case, and Mariya trusted her not to hurt her; she was going to keep to that.

She thought for a very long time about the events that had just transpired. Why did Mariya disappear in the way that she did? Why did it look like a sacrifice, like she was just being transported to another realm? The Entity couldn’t force her to obey It, but that didn’t save her from the consequences. Could she actually be gone?

Anna cleared her face and shook her head. No, that’s impossible. It had to be. The Entity had to be deceiving her. She recalled an earlier conversation that she had with Mariya, where she had told her that the Entity often separated two other survivors in love. She needed to trust Mariya and hold onto hope, now more than ever.

As soon as she thought this, something happened. The air changed. It was slight and hardly noticeable, but the air became lighter and the realm vibrated. She felt like she could almost reach out and touch it with her fingertips. She sat up and noticed small cracks beginning to form in what was supposed to be the ceiling or sky of the place she was being held in, and she observed them curiously.

Almost immediately, the cracks began to seal up and the air changed faintly back to its suffocating nature, but they never finished sealing.

_What is going on? she thought._  

Suddenly, it clicked. _Hope_. When Anna broke out of the apathetic state she was in, the realm around her seemed to weaken.

She fiercely held onto her hope that everything would be okay. Mariya was still alive, and they would escape this hell and be free. She worked through her feelings of despair and thought of happier times spent with her lover, and her intense desire to be with her once again. She held on to her deep love for the woman who stumbled across her territory that day, injured and in need of her help.

The cracks pushed through with more force than they had, and they spread down to the walls and onto the floor.

It suddenly all made sense. She knew that the Entity fed on the hope of Survivors, but for people like her, hope was different. It was a direct threat to It’s power. That’s why It sought to drive out every last bit of human emotion and sympathy from the Killers to make them nothing more than obedient pawns right from the beginning. However, it underestimated her unbreakable bond with Mariya.

Survivors naturally had a kind of hope that worked in the favor of the Entity. The hope of escape from trials kept them going, while the despair or corruptness of the killers kept them obedient. If a survivor lost hope, then they stopped participating in the Entity’s games, and the Entity couldn’t feed on them as well. It wasn’t “fun.”

What happened to the survivors who had lost their hope, she did not know, but no current survivor ever displayed this. But if a Killer regained hope, then what does this mean?  She was the first one to ever have done so; at least that she knew of.

Eventually, the cracks became large enough to reveal open white spaces of light that were as large as she was. Anna quickly put the cotton flower back in her pouch as she jumped up and started walking towards one. Without warning, vines shot out of the darkness and grabbed her at her wrists and ankles, abruptly pulling her to a stop. She had to steady herself as to not fall over from their grip. The tendrils seemed to have faint smoke emanating from them where ever the light touched them, almost as if they were burning. 

“Just let us go,” she said, keeping her voice calm and collected. Anna wasn’t afraid anymore. Not right now, anyway.

The Entity’s deep, guttural whispers were nonsensical and instantaneous. The tendrils tried pulling her back, but she was stronger. She pulled off of them and began running desperately towards the light, with more demonic appendages following behind her. They tried grabbing her, but she pushed on forward, determined to escape.

When she got close enough, she reached out and touched a pocket of light.

 

 

*****

When Anna emerged out of the light, she found herself back at the place where the Entity kept all of the killers. She did not expect to end up here, but anywhere was better than the previous realm. 

The light seemed to burn the Entity. Otherwise, it would have never let her escape that horrible place. Was this what Mariya was talking about?

“Anna! There you are!” Sally made her way over to her, standing up along with a few others.

“Yeah what the hell happened? You were gone for what felt like days,” Amanda mused as she followed closely behind. Naturally, several others were missing and in their own trials, but everyone else gathered around her, curious as to her unexpected re-appearance.  

“Amanda told us about what happened...” Sally remarked. “What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story, but Mariya may have found a way for all of us to get out of here. But you’re not going to like it.” Anna spoke quickly, unsure of whether the Entity would try interrupting her or not. Strangely enough, the realm seemed devoid of It’s presence. She was sure this wasn’t the case, though. Was It just letting her talk?

Either way, she used the opportunity to quickly explain to them exactly what Mariya had told her.

“So,” a cold, scathing voice rang out as it drew out the word. “You just want us to just stand still and look pretty while they fly through all the generators so we can just be tortured after? Is that _seriously_ what you’re asking? You’re a fucking crazy bitch,” Kreuger spat.

Anna glared at him from behind her mask but tilted her head objectively, keeping her voice relatively calm but low. “Is it so bad to want to be free?” 

“Who wants to be ‘free’ when the Entity gives you all of this power?” he said, throwing his head back and opening up his arms towards the dim sky as though he was basking in the sun. “We can do whatever we want here.” He started laughing, his chest heaving with short, maniacal breaths. He grinned and pointed a bladed finger at her before dropping his gloved hand to his side, producing a scissor-like sound as he rubbed the blades together a few times. “She’s made you so weak. I can’t believe I was ever intimidated by the likes of you!”

She narrowed her eyes behind her mask. “Says the coward who hunts _children_.” 

“Hey, at least I don’t have a death wish over a stupid fucking peasant.”

Anna growled and marched forwards quickly, buffing up her shoulders and clenching her fists together as though she was going to strike him. This caused him to take a half a step back and get in a defensive stance. Looks like he was still intimidated by her. “You will have a death wish with _me_ if you keep calling her that,” she seethed. 

“ _Hmpf_. You can try.” Kreuger narrowed his eyes at her but didn’t say anything more.

“You aren’t worth my time,” she grumbled. She deliberately turned away from him and faced everyone else. He treated this like an insult and mumbled another slur in her direction, but she ignored him. She had to focus her energy on convincing the people who would actually be willing to go against the Entity, provided they had enough reason to.

She tried again. “I have a strong feeling this will work. Strange things have been happening lately, and this can only mean that the Entity’s power is being threatened.” 

“You know It’ll just torture us,” Amanda uttered. “A survivor isn’t worth all of that trouble for a ‘feeling,’ Anna.” 

“If it means we can get-"

“Haven’t you learned this already? There is no ‘getting out.’ Like it or not, this is just what life is now.” 

“Don’t you want to get out, too?”

There was some silence as Amanda thought, caught off-guard by the personal question. “That’s aside from the point.”

“What about the other survivor? The one in the notebook? They aren’t here right now.”

“Who knows what happened to them.” 

“They got out.”

“Or maybe they died from not listening for too long.” Her voice lowered as though she was providing a warning.

“We don’t know that…” Anna’s voice turned defensive.

“Exactly.”

Anna sighed in frustration as she looked around to see the other’s reactions. By the looks on the faces of those not donning masks, they obviously did not like the idea of being tortured without actual proof that anything that she was saying was viable. They seemed to just brush her off and completely disregard the idea. 

Except one.

“Are you sure you want this?”

Anna looked over to Sally. She wished that she could have gotten a better reading for her tone using something other than her voice, but her veil simply revealed no emotion at all. She couldn’t tell if she was being condemnatory or cautious. Either way, Anna didn’t get the chance to respond before the nurse continued.

“Anna, please take a step back and look at yourself. You’re all disheveled. You’re going to wear yourself down to the bone… I know you want to be free, but even if her idea does work, more torture in your current state would be…um,” she idled, trying to come up with the best word that Anna would actually listen to. “– dangerous.”

Anna straightened herself up, but her eyes couldn’t help but to fall down to observe herself. She looked a lot more messy than she thought. Her skirt was folded over behind her in an awkward way and one of her belt straps had slightly fallen off of her shoulder. She made quick motions to fix them, but her appearance simply wasn’t the most important thing to her right now; getting out of here was. However, she knew from the Russian men that would approach her home and the tale that was spread that appearances meant more than meets the eye. Looking messy would damage her credibility. Her voice instantly became guarded. “I am stronger than you think.”

Evan huffed in his seat and mumbled, “that’s what we all believe before it becomes too much.” 

Sally quickly intervened before Anna could even have the chance at getting defensive at his comment, even if what he was saying had value. She knew how best to talk to her about this, and his snarky behavior was never going to work. Anna’s face was already being pulled into a scowl, but Sally drifted right up to her, forcing her to divert her attention back over towards her approaching figure. 

“Anna, what about what you talked to me about before? About the balance between sacrificing and being with her; what happened to that? Wasn’t it working?”

Anna turned her head down and away from her for a moment before facing her again as she spoke. “For a while, yes.” 

“But?”

She shook her head. “Not enough. Trials are slowly killing her. I can’t watch that. We want out and there’s _finally_ a chance now.” Anna’s words were simple and quick, like she was swiftly becoming out of breath the longer she spoke. Though, her words had a clear sincerity to them that Sally couldn’t ignore.   

Sally’s response was slow and gentle, but her voice was firm in its opposition. “The trials are slowly killing _you_ , Anna.” She audibly sighed out while gazing briefly down to the ground as she grabbed ahold of her right arm with her opposite hand and palpated the skin beyond her sleeve, examining it’s discolored hue with no real purpose in mind other than to recollect her thoughts. “I want to be free, too,” she admitted, “but we don’t know with any certainty if the plan will work. It might be better to keep things as they were; to try to find happiness this way.”

“ _Bingo_. At least someone here is smart,” Kruger intervened.

The masked huntress softly growled as she shook her head at him and averted her eyes for a few seconds, resorting to rubbing her face in hands and using her fingertips to get underneath her mask. She was frustrated but unwavering in her purpose. She understood where Sally was coming from, but ever since she awoke from laying eyes on Mariya again, she was beginning to sense a certain weakness in the form that kept them all trapped here. It was like an old wolf still trying to lead a pack of fresh blood with snarling jaws. She couldn’t explain it and hardly noticed it was there until just now, but her instincts told her it was growing. The Entity couldn’t keep her in that isolating realm despite its best efforts. That had to mean something. If there truly was a way out, she was going to take it, but she couldn’t do it without the others. She only wished she was better at being convincing. What should she even say?

The mental image of Mariya being thrown on the Entity’s hook resurfaced, and it jarred her. She felt the pain in her own chest and was reminded yet again of her own punishments before the Entity. She _had_ to convince them; they could never truly be happy here. She took a shallow breath in and pulled her hands away from her face. “Entity was killing us before. You do not understand, I _am_ happier now than I ever was back then, but it is difficult for both of us to survive here. Why shouldn’t we try to get out?”

The nurse let out a soft sigh and tried again. “I do understand, but I _always_ see you grapple with both happiness and misery because of whatever happened in the trials. It’s exhausting to watch, and I can’t imagine how you must be feeling. But is this plan really worth all of the pain? Especially if it doesn’t work? You and I both know that it’s too dangerous to go against the Entity like that. What if the Entity kills you for disobeying It?”

Anna took a step closer and opened up her palms to her. “Only if I am the only one fighting back. It can’t kill us all. If we don’t feed it, it dies.”

The look of surprise rang out across the faces of everyone who was not masked, like a lightbulb behind their eyes had turned on. Anna clutched on to that and used her newfound footing to try to get them to understand that this was worth at least trying. 

“All I know is that I am tired of this. I know you must be as well, but I would rather try something _; anything_ than do nothing and live like this for all eternity! The plan _will_ work… if all of us do it.” 

She also, in a desperate attempt at providing them with some tangible form of the glimmer of proof she had experienced, explained how she got back to this realm on her own.

There was a lot of silence as some of them were now looking at her with a flicker of consideration, but Anna was steadily becoming discouraged until someone finally spoke up.

“I don’t know, Anna...” Amanda pulled her gaze down and away from her in a conflicted way, and she was crossing her arms over her chest.

Trapper spoke up. “I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with the Entity,” he noted with a certain aged roughness in his voice. 

Everyone looked over at him. He was sitting on a stump, hunched over with his forearms resting over his thighs and hands clasped together at the middle.

“I am also very tired, I’d have to say,” he mumbled as he hung his head low for a moment and immediately picked it up again, stretching out his stiff neck muscles. “Ever since I saw Mariya in your map that day, I’ve been… thinking. I don’t normally care if survivors cry during my trials, or whatever the hell they do, but something about her expression affected me, as much as I hate to admit it.”

MacMillan has been in the Entity’s realm for the longest, and he knew exactly what kinds of atrocities the Entity dealt out as punishments. His very skin told the story. It shocked Anna that he had said anything at all; she thought he would have been the last person to be willing to go against the Entity so boldly. She thought he would surely just have rubbed his warning in her face and said, “I told you so,” instead. But he didn’t. She suddenly remembered what he had said to her the last time she saw him.

“And then I saw the two of you together,” he remarked as he got up from his seat and strode over to her. He stood there thoughtfully for a second before speaking. “I can see how much you care about her, and how much she cares about you in return. Maybe I was wrong about what I said before.”

He turned his mask over to meet Sally and Amanda’s. “If the girl found something from another survivor that is no longer in this realm, then it means things must be changing. Something like that was never meant to be found, and I’ve never seen anyone get out of a punishment realm alone.” He gave a brief pause before gazing back up at Anna more intently, keeping his chin pulled down and a knowing look appearing in his dark eyes as his own experiences with the Entity flashed before him. “You were really able to get out of there on your own?” The shadow behind his mask was not enough to hide the fact that his eyes were examining her face closely, looking for any small sense of doubt. He seemed to hinge on her response.

She said nothing but nodded her head in earnest. 

He lifted his head up and suddenly raised his right arm out to her with his elbow bent at a perfect right angle, palm open as if he was calling her to grasp it. She did, and he gripped her hand and pulled their fists down slightly. He said nothing further but gave her a slight nod.

Anna was starting to smile at him radiantly before Amanda heavily sighed and dropped her arms to her sides.

“I’m fucking tired of this, too,” she huffed with a sense of finality. “You know what? Fuck it, I’m in. Worst thing that’ll happen is we get tortured for a while and things go back to normal for us if your girlfriend’s plan doesn’t work.”

Evan nodded his head in agreement.

“You’ve got a point,” Sally hummed, still holding her one arm as the other hung loose at her side. “No one else was able to escape the Entity on their own. I don’t like this, but…it does make sense. Okay, fine.” Her voice became lighter and she pulled her head down once in a simple agreeing nod. “If there’s a chance, we should try to take it, then.”

Other killers joined in one by one, a beautiful domino effect unfolding in front of Anna. She mentally gave a huge sigh of relief and extended an appreciative smile to Evan, although she knew a long and difficult road lay ahead of all of them.

She couldn’t shake the feeling of something watching her, and she glanced around until her eyes fell on Michael, who was standing half hidden in the corner simply staring at her. She shrugged him off; he was certainly creepy, but he didn’t scare her in the slightest. However, she wasn’t sure if her would ever agree not to kill. He was one of the ones who happily followed the Entity aside from Krueger. They didn’t need to be coerced into killing.

It would have to be a most-or-nothing effort, then. She hoped it would be enough.


	22. Insubordination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, has it really been 3 months since I last updated? Oops... I had some major Life stuff going on, but I am back now! Thank you for your patience <3 Updates may be a bit more spotty moving forward into the future, but I shouldn't need another hiatus.

*****

Mariya had told everyone at the campfire about what had happened. None of them could believe their ears. They had never heard of the Entity directly torturing a survivor, or even “killing” them before. Of course, It didn’t actually kill her, it just felt like it took yet another part of her soul. There was the all-too familiar feeling of ice in her core that she just could not shake off, and the numbness of the Entity’s touch left her body feeling like a hollow shell.

She retraced her steps to work through her fuzzy mind. She had just been sacrificed in a trial before opening her eyes to the sight of her bloody and bruised girlfriend in front of her instead of the usual survivors’ campfire. What she had just seen horrified her. She couldn’t get the image of Anna being held like that, with lacerations and horrid wounds all over her, out of her mind. _That’s_ what she’s been going through this whole time? The memory of Anna’s scar that had been torn into her cheek suddenly re-emerged and Mariya shivered, sending needle-like pricks of pain throughout her heart and down to the palms of her hands. The sensation made her wince as she looked down at her palms and made slow motions to rub the tingling out. She _hated_ this. She couldn’t stand the idea that Anna really had been suffering through all of that simply because she refused to sacrifice her to the Entity.

Mariya felt disgusted with herself. The only reason she was suffering was _because_ of her. Because Anna still cared for her despite being separated for so long. And now, Mariya was asking even more from her, without the guarantee of any real payoff for her pain. She was directly being put in danger because escape was the most important thing on her mind. _“Selfish,”_ Mariya muttered to herself as she worked, despite the fact that they _both_ wanted out of the Entity’s grasp more than anything. Anna must have known what she was getting herself into by intentionally sparing her. She wasn’t dumb nor haphazardly reckless; after all, she did protect her from the Russian guards of their past life. She knew exactly how to deal with them in a self-preserving and calculated way, and Mariya had to place faith in her that she was doing the same now…even if it was more dangerous. After all, she was more intimately familiar with the Entity than Mariya.

Of course, Anna had tried talking with her about the horrors being inflicted upon her before, hinting at punishment and the harsh, unyielding expectations of the Entity, but she could never fully remember what happened to her while she was being punished. It was like her mind blocked all of it out, but Mariya was hesitant to pry any further than what she was willing to share; she didn’t want her to re-live her experiences just for the sake of satiating her own curiosity. It was clear that most of the killers had some sort of mark from the Entity; The Trapper had his various scars and metalwork piercing his body; The Hag was emaciated.. Mariya didn’t think much of it. However, Anna did talk about how her experiences made her feel. She felt drained. She felt anxious, sad, angry, and hurt above all else. Mariya knew that whatever the Entity was doing to her was awful, but she never expected it to be anything quite like _this_. Why had she been so bad at figuring out the full extent of the Entity’s actions until now?

She was just a simple village girl from an old, beat up town, what did she know about the mechanisms of torture and coercion? Well, there was one thing she knew: the manipulative actions of the Entity vaguely reminded her of her father. He would have done anything to control her and keep her obedient, just like her mother. It made her sick to her stomach; it If it had been his way, she would have been born a male instead. So that she could have “carried on the family legacy.” She wasn’t good enough for him, and she was destined to simply be written off as a housewife before they ended up moving to live with their relatives in Russia. He was chastising and unforgiving, and he had the same demeanor as the Entity in many ways.

Mariya took a slow, shallow breath and clenched and unclenched her hands slowly, finally working the last of her nerves out of her hands as she stared into the fire. She hated feeling like this, it felt like deep pit dug itself into her chest. Her father didn’t matter now; she would never see her family again. That she was glad for. But what should she do now? What could she do about something she couldn’t see?

Rage swelled up inside of her, demanding to find an outlet but only to be simmered in her now clenched fists. Since when had she gotten so… _angry_? But how dare the Entity try to use her against Anna like that! Why was she always used as a means to an end? Then again, weren’t all the survivors nothing more than that in this hellscape? None of this was _their_ fault.  

At any rate, she had hoped Anna didn’t think she was dead.

Anna was always so willing to put herself in harm’s way for her, it kind of scared her a bit. But now, it was clear that more was at stake than just their bodies. It was obvious now - it wasn’t that Anna was _too_ defiant against the Entity, it was the fact that she was defiant _at all_. She’s seen this behavior before; the Entity was wearing her down so that she would be perfectly obedient again.

Her connection with Anna was the only explanation she and the other survivors could think of as for why the Entity was able to bend the “rules” and feed on her in the way that It did; it was almost like the feeding process was postponed. But why? That they couldn’t figure out with any certainty. Was it just to deceive Anna? Mariya knew that the Entity was more directly connected with Its killers than the survivors, and she was the only survivor to have a special bond with a killer. It seemed to blur the lines of their roles. Could this also explain why both of their memories turned foggy and none of the other survivors’ did?

“Hey Mariya, are you okay?”

Mariya was snapped out of her thoughts by the gentle voice that rang out in front of her. She blinked a few times at the shadow standing above her, forcing her vision to come into focus, and looked up to meet Meg’s concerned expression. Mariya raised her eyebrows up to relax her forehead once she realized she had been furrowing it for too long. She had a massive headache and just wanted to go to sleep. She didn’t want to deal with any of this.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I must have been staring off again...” she lamented, rubbing her eyes. A soft sigh of frustration escaped her lips and she began to absentmindedly pick at some of the dirt stains on her jeans.

“Talk to me.”

“I’m just so worried about her,” Mariya said after a few seconds. She momentarily returned her gaze into the fire, watching the wood endlessly crackle and burn. The fire never really seemed to change; it was the same shape and size as when she first arrived into this realm. She longed for the same kind of stability.

Meg came and sat down next to her on the fallen log, taking her seat in between her and Claudette, who had also walked over. They gazed into the fire with her, but Meg wrapped her right arm around Mariya and rubbed her shoulder a few times.

“I know you are. I would be, too.” Meg glanced over at Claudette before gazing into the fire with Mariya.

“She’s been through so much…and I’m just putting her through more.” Mariya wondered if this was the right thing to do. Was there a way they could truly be happy while here, though? She put her face in her hands and gave a heavy sigh into them. “But I’m so tired of this… I hate going through trials, and I hate seeing the pain in her expression every single time I see her – the pain she tries to hide from me so that I don’t get upset." 

Nea came and sat down on the dirt just before the log, crossing her legs over one another and placing her head in her hands. “You both have been through a lot. But you both are also very strong, especially together. You think your plan will work?”

“It’s not really my plan, remember? But it’s the only thing we have to go off of.”

“I mean, it makes sense. I’m just not sure if the other killers would be up for it, y’know? And it’s like you said: you need many of them to be in on it for the plan to work.”

“I know…” Mariya sighed. “She’s going to talk to them. The only thing we have is hope, but I also know they have to be tired of being forced to kill all the time. Right?”

“All I know is that I’ve never seen a killer cry before,” Jake finally whispered. He was sitting adjacently from them, hunched over with his hands clasped together over his thighs and staring into the fire along with everyone else. He took a breath in and flicked his eyebrows up, memories of the incident with Ace flashing before him. “I’ve also never seen them that angry before, so.”

“You do know they weren’t heartless beings before they Entity took them, right?” 

“Of course I do, Mariya. Not all of them at least. But they lost their humanity.. It’s just unbelievable how much she changed when you were reunited. It shakes everything up.”

“That’s what we’re relying on. I think they still have some small sliver of humanity in them that’s been lying dormant.” Mariya looked up at Jake. “How else would she still care about me after all this time?”

“You’re right. The way she looked at me that one day still shakes me up,” Nea said as she folded her arms in on herself and re-adjusted her seat on the ground. “When she threw the hatchet that hit my abdomen?… That shit was powerful.” She paused for a few seconds as her eyes gazed across the endless patches of grass, lost in thought. “I don’t know who this Benadict guy is, but I think we can get out. It won’t be easy, but the Entity’s power just has to be weakened enough that it will let us go.”

“I think so, too. Thank you, everyone,” Mariya said softly. The survivor nodded her head to herself as if affirming that the possibility that freedom really was within reach. She was exhausted, but she would fight for as long as she and Anna could. Needless to say, the other survivors were just as desperate to get out as she was. “We have to get out,” she asserted. _But I have to talk to her again, she thought. I don’t want her to be pushed over the edge, and she still needs to know that I’m still okay…_

“Well, our part is easy. I guess we’ll see what happens,” Jake said.

Claudette beamed a smile at Mariya. “Yeah, we’re with you!” She tried to sound cheery, but the mood was too serious to be genuine.

 

 

*****

The air was cold and stiff when the survivors entered their next trial. Mariya glanced around herself and took note of her surroundings, smiling when she saw that Nea was standing right next to her. They gave each other a quick nod, then walked together to find their first generator. This trial took place in the Blood Lodge, so it wasn’t before long that they were able to spot the blinking lights of a broken generator above the open, thick fog.

When they arrived at the generator, they looked around themselves to make sure the coast was clear before starting their repairs. When the generator started making obvious churning noises, Jake appeared out of the brush with David following behind him.

They all gave each other a look. All of the survivors spawned relatively close to each other. This was a good sign, right?

They both silently joined in on repairing the generator. No one had seen any sign of the killer yet, and they had no way of knowing if they were in on the plan or not. Only time would tell.

With the first generator done, they decided to split up in groups of two to find the next ones. Mariya and Jake walked over to the next visible set of blinking lights while the other two headed off in a different direction. 

They were silent as the clicks and grinds of the generator grew and grew, but Mariya could feel Jake occasionally give her a glance, urging her to take notice of it. They had a way of silently communicating to each other with just a simple glance or gesture, which had proved to be very useful in and out of trials. The expression behind his eyes revealed worry and concern, but she returned a glance of her own to reassure him that she was fine and just to focus on the task at hand. He gave a small nod at this, dropping the subject for now.  

After a while of walking around once their next generator popped, they caught sight of Nea and David again in the distance, ducked behind cover and staring ahead before they were noticed. The two started beckoning them, calling them to come closer. 

“Come ‘ere!” David whispered eagerly when they got within hearing distance. Mariya and Jake followed them, and as they got closer, so did a distant heartbeat. David pointed to a figure through the fog. “’Ave a look.” Mariya squinted and saw Evan standing there, facing away from them.

“No way…” she whispered. His expression was met with raised eyebrows, mirroring her own.

The Trapper wasn’t moving at all. Occasionally he looked around, but he stood in the same place with his arms folded over his chest, as still as a statue. Could he really be in? Of all of the killers to possibly join, he wasn’t the first to come to mind.

Mariya suddenly got a gut feeling. The others had already started moving away to find the next generator, but she stalled behind.

“You coming, Mariya?” Jake whispered at her, eyebrows raised in concern.

She looked at him, and then back at the masked killer. “Uh, yes.” She decided she should wait for a little while longer, just to be sure, but she turned to follow them.

The next generator was within visible range of The Trapper. If he didn’t come towards them after they fixed this one, then that would seal the deal.

As the mechanical parts started turning at full speed and the lights above blinked on, the killer turned his head over to where the orb had been produced by the repaired generator. The other survivors started to crouch away, afraid that he would come for them. But still, he stood his ground.

Mariya decided now would be the best time. She moved to take a step out into the open. 

“Aye, what the hell are you doing, Mariya? Just ‘cause he isn’t attacking doesn’t mean we should just waltz right up to ‘im!” David scolded her. He started to reach for her arm to pull her back.

“Just trust me on this,” she said, pulling away from him before he could grab her. She was definitely scared and realized how dangerous her idea was, but something was telling her to do this. She had nothing to lose at this point.

He huffed as his hands slapped down to his sides, but he stood still and extended a gesturing hand over to the Trapper, motioning for her to go right ahead and confront him.

“Be careful!” Nea whispered.

“Always am.”

The others stayed hidden, but Mariya stepped out into the open, hearing a heartbeat that was not her own getting louder in her ears as her own thudded in her chest.

 

 

*****

MacMillan silently stared at the survivor who had started tentatively walking up to him. After the time he spent standing there while they repaired gens, the old, distantly familiar voices and whispers in his head had started up again, but he shoved them out. He wasn’t going to betray Anna that easily.

When she was in hearing range of him, the girl stood up straight and dropped her hands to her sides. _What could she possibly want? he wondered._ The survivor seemed to hold herself more confidently, evoking a curious reaction from the masked killer in front of her as he slightly tilted his head to one side.

“Thank you,” she said. 

Two simple words, and she looked at him in earnest while she said them. He was taken aback by this. The image of Anna standing him down reappeared. _She really is just like Anna, he thought. Brave and selfless._  

Evan gave her a simple nod of his head. She gave him a lopsided grin in response, then turned away to join the other survivors.

 

 

*****

“You really scare us sometimes,” Jake mumbled when Mariya returned. She reached to grasp his extended palm before she was pulled in for a half-hug, the two survivors throwing their opposite arms over each other’s shoulders before letting go.

“I know,” she replied, giving them a lighthearted smile. She turned towards David. “See? I told you to trust me. Gut instincts don’t lie.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see how that works out for ya in the long run. Never expected ya to be so bold, granted; thought we were gonna have to come save your arse.”

“Hopefully not anymore…”

 

 

*****

The next trial, Amanda was in the center of the realm, crouched and not moving. Mariya had been the first to find her. She nearly walked right into her, not seeing her tucked in between the space between two wooden boxes.

Mariya nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw her, but The Pig just turned to look at her briefly before turning back to look straight ahead. 

“Thank you,” Mariya told her when she had regained her ability to speak, her hand still resting over the thundering heartbeat in her chest.

Amanda turned her snout to look at her once again.

“She really loves you. You know that, right? Don’t ever take it for granted,” Amanda remarked.

“Of course I know that,” Mariya said. “We were together for years before this hellhole.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stitched her eyebrows together defensively. “And I would never do that. She means everything to me.” 

_“Hm.”_ Amanda paused and looked away from her, lost in her own thoughts. “I do admire her strength and willpower to escape, though. The fact that she’s willing to endure so much pain just for the slim chance is remarkable. Not many people would be willing to do that.”

“Doesn’t that also involve you now?..”

Amanda chuckled a bit. “Well, I’m doing it for a different reason. I have no one alive to fight for anymore. I’m just tired of this. I want a chance to enjoy my life.” She paused, giving a thoughtful glance towards the distance and considering just how much she wanted to tell this survivor of her own life. “This place isn’t what I thought it was, and I have other plans than what the Entity has in store for me… If we can get there, anyway.” 

“That’s a fair enough a reason as any,” Mariya said quietly. She pushed a stray hair out of her face. A sudden thought came to her; something that she should have asked the Trapper but was too nervous to think about at the time. She was much more empowered when she was in others’ presence. “Hey, um.. If you see her, please tell her I’m okay?”

“If I see her, yeah. The Entity has been keeping us real busy.” 

Mariya nodded understandingly. “Wait, _have_ you seen her recently?”

“It’s always off and on with any killer, so I can’t tell you where she is.”

“Oh; alright, then.” She thanked her again as she turned and walked away.  

 

 

*****

With each trial the air slowly became more thick and stifling. Mariya lost track of how many trials she had been in since their plan for mutiny started. The killer’s moods were adjusting to it with each change as well. The first time Mariya saw The Nurse, she had done the same thing that she did with Trapper and Amanda. The killer had been shocked at Mariya’s gesture, but she accepted her gratuities. She continued doing this with each killer that had spared them, following her gut instinct every time. Why not thank them, after all? 

This time however, things were different. When Mariya saw her, she was hunched over and grabbing her head with both of her hands as though she were in agonizing pain.

Mariya jogged over to her. As she approached, she could hear her repeating “stop” to herself over and over. She felt the need to do something; she couldn’t just leave her like this! She had to intervene, otherwise she might break from the Entity’s influence. 

“Sally?” Mariya called out. Thankfully, she actually knew her name because Anna talked about her often. 

The killer lifted up her head to look at the lone survivor, still pressing her hands into her skull tightly. Her breathing was erratic and it shook her whole frame.

“No! No, get away from me!” She turned away from Mariya and cried out in pain, recoiling in on herself even more. Her voice was very cracked and broken, as though she had trouble even breathing. 

“It’s okay, Sally,” Mariya murmured as she started carefully inching towards her. “It’ll be okay.” She had another idea, but lately these ideas were becoming a little too dangerous. She only hoped it would work to calm her down. Either that, or she would just be attacked like in any other trial. She was still inching towards the Nurse, paying close attention for any sudden movements. _Just a little closer, she thought._

“Please! I don’t want to hurt you!” she screamed as she tightened her grip on the bone saw in her hand and took a half-stride back.

“You don’t have to.” She quickly closed the space between them with the last few steps and wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging her tightly and bracing herself. 

“What…?” Sally finally pulled her arms away from her head and raised them above the survivor’s embrace, not knowing how to react. The killer’s head fell to look down at the survivor. “Why…why are you doing this?” she rasped, her voice unsteady and starting to shake. “I’ve killed you so many times… You should hate me.”

“I know it wasn’t by your choice. I believe in you, Sally; you are strong. Thank you for fighting.”

The Nurse silently stood there for a while, baffled, with her arms hanging loosely by her sides. Mariya started to hear sounds that sounded like faint sobbing but kept her arms wrapped tightly around her waist. She didn’t dare move now. Eventually, Sally very slowly put her arms around the survivor to return her hug, allowing her jaw to rest lightly on top of Mariya’s head. She had been so touched by her act of kindness and understanding; the voices in her head weren’t as pervasive anymore.

“Thank you,” she whispered. 

“Of course.” Mariya replied as she slowly broke away from the hug. Mariya looked up at her and noticed that her cloth mask had become damp from her tears, making the place where her eyes should have been look black. It made her look eerie, but Mariya didn’t care. She gave her a warm, reassuring smile.

“You should go do generators. I’ll be okay for now.”

“Are you sure?”

The Nurse gave a quiet nod of her head and turned to look away.

“Alright,” Mariya said. She turned to go leave, glancing back behind her shoulder a few times before she disappeared from view.

Mariya stayed in her thoughts for most of the trial. She couldn’t leave her to the Entity. If this was going to work, she had to make sure that everyone was supported.

She went back to check on her before leaving the trial. Sally was still standing there, but she was staring at the ground. She appeared to be lost in her own thoughts until she noticed that Mariya was standing there. She walked up to her again, fiddling anxiously with her hands before she pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The Nurse waited patiently as Mariya found her words.

“Hi. Um, I also wanted to thank you for being kind to Anna, and for being there for her when I couldn’t. It really means a lot to me.”

Her veiled, expressionless face revealed nothing, but Mariya could hear the surprised smile in her coarse voice as she replied. “Oh, it was no trouble, dear.” The Nurse looked off into the distance before she returned her glance. “This place is dreary for the both of us, don’t you think?”

“I think that’s a bit of an understatement, but yes… Kindness where it can be shown is invaluable.”

“Of course. She’s very lucky to have someone like you.” The Nurse’s glance fell away from her again. Her strained voice had held an obvious tone of sorrow to it, and Mariya wondered why that was. 

The survivor flashed a small grin nonetheless, but her eyes felt heavy. “It goes both ways for us, trust me.” Mariya toyed with the ring on her thumb before giving the nurse a parting wave and turning to leave.


	23. To Be or Not to Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See end notes for translations

*****  
There were some killers that, of course, did not spare the survivors. Krueger was pissed that Anna had even suggested the idea of not killing the survivors. He quite enjoyed killing for the Entity, and he saw no reason to stop.

He even went as far as to make fun of her affections for her survivor, which only pissed her off. If the Entity would allow it, she would not have hesitated to stick a hatchet or several in his minuscule body. She despised him for more than just mocking their love. Of course, she knew about his past, and despised his treatment of the children of whom he made his victims. He thoroughly disgusted her.

Alas, the Entity prevented the killers from fighting with each other in their own realm. Many of them hardly saw each other, anyway. They were always either in a trial or, more recently, receiving their due punishments for disobedience.

Many of the killers became withdrawn when the punishments started. A few of them broke early on, but for those who had not: the methods of torture steadily became more and more severe the longer they went against the Entity. They were beginning to wonder if there was going to be any payoff, or whether the plan had started to crumble or not.

A few more of them threatened to break after this uncertainty, but with Mariya constantly giving them support where Anna could not, they held on for a little while longer. The Entity could not control what the survivors did, but It instead took out It’s wrath on Its killers.

It tortured The Huntress the most severely out of them all, because she was responsible for their mutiny. During this time, she had forced herself to become so detached from reality that the punishments would not affect her as heavily as in the past. She tried to be careful to not let herself go too much, for the fear of losing her connection with Mariya in her numbness. She was one of the only things that kept her going; that kept her rebelling against the Entity. She was the beacon of light in her darkness.

The Entity would not allow her to be in any trials. Taking the survivor from her didn’t break her as It had expected. It couldn’t let her know that Mariya was still alive, and It instead isolated Anna. But, still, the killer stubbornly held on to her hope with everything she had.

While the troublesome killers were being tortured, the Entity would send the obedient ones to slaughter the survivors in their place.

As a result, Mariya and the others would be stuck going against Kruger, Michael, Hag, and eventually The Doctor and a few others again and again, with the occasional appearance and disappearance of the disobedient killers as they went in and out of torture. None of the survivors ever saw Anna, and Mariya started to fret over this.

Mariya had suggested that they not fight back against the ones who were not in on the plan. Every chase would give the Entity what It wanted. Simply killing the survivors outright offered no real incentive for the killers to kill for any other reason than to prevent their own torture. It made the matches dull, and Mariya thought that they might join back in.

It took a lot of convincing the other survivors, but in the end, they agreed. Mariya had actually gotten enraged at their reluctance. If her girlfriend and the other killers were going to be put through hell for fighting against the Entity, then so could they. They had the easiest part in the plan until now, and she was annoyed at their hypocrisy.

The plan was to hide from the aggressor and work on generators as immersed as they could. They wouldn’t save the hooked survivors until another person was down or the killer was far away, and they would always be working on gens. If they were found, they would have to give up. Additionally, Mariya thought it would be a good idea to use keys that they had saved to get the hatch whenever possible.

But for now, she tried convincing the killers to fight against the Entity. What else was there to do?

 

*****  
Mariya quickly found herself being stalked by Michael as soon as she appeared in the new realm. Another thing that the Entity would do is spawn the killers near Mariya, so she barely had a chance to hide from them.

She tried a different approach with him this time, a satirical tone mixing in her voice. “Don’t you ever get tired of killing the same people, Michael?”

She didn’t expect a response, nor did she expect a change of heart when she had healed him from his bear trap wound from before. He just stood there, glaring at her. Feeding his evil within.

“Don’t you want to move on to bigger and better things? We’ve done this dance time and time again. I’m sure it must be boring for you.” He was starting to walk towards her, and she paused before continuing, grasping at her words. “Don’t you want to kill on your own terms instead of being the Entity’s bitch?”

He hesitated. It was certainly something, but it wasn’t enough. He stepped forward and dug his blade into her.

 

*****  
One day, while Mariya was sitting around the campfire waiting to be called to yet another trial, she decided she would take another aimless walk through the survivors’ forest. She didn’t know how long it had been since they first started this mutiny, but she really needed to clear her head and stretch out her stiff muscles. She still hadn’t seen Anna at all, and worried about what had happened, or was happening, to her. She felt physically sick but convinced her body to keep moving forward.

After countless numbers of steps past the old, familiar trees, she watched the same old condensing vapor escape from her breath as the area got colder. She took a second to breathe out again, taking a marginal amount of joy from watching her breath dance and swirl before it quickly dissipated in the soft, icy wind. Whenever she was nearing the “edge” of the survivors’ realm, the temperature would plummet. She resumed walking anyway; eventually she would just find herself back at the warm campfire with the others.

However, as she continued to walk, she noticed something new growing in the distance for the first time since she came to this realm. The small but pale object in the forest immediately stood out from the dark fog. She put one foot in front of the other until she was able to see what it was.

She parted her lips as she stared at the curious flower growing out of the ground below her. She couldn’t help but to pick it, holding it in her palm to observe it more closely. The soft, slightly wilted but very much alive object in her hand pulled at the strings of her heart. It was, unmistakably, the same type of flower that Anna had given her when she asked her to be her girlfriend. Mariya clutched the flower in both of her hands as she felt the tears swell up in her eyes. What was this doing here?

The next time she was called to a trial, she burned the flower as an offering.

 

*****  
When Anna finally opened her eyes, she watched as black, wispy smoke trailed up her arms and legs. The Entity had traded off from torturing her to putting back her in the blackened, sense-less rooms. Each time, when she went through the white cracks of broken light, she had reappeared into another sense-less room.

This process repeated until she eventually resorted to laying on the ground, fantasizing about Mariya and their cabin. She had given up on trying to leave these realms. Anna ached so much all over, but she tightly held onto these images of her girlfriend in the dim hell she was stuck in.

When the smoke had stopped swirling and she could see again, she found herself in the preparation space for a trial.

What’s going on? she thought. They’re letting me in a trial?

She was not prepared for this at all and became nervous, not knowing what to expect. She had a strong, incessant gut feeling to use iridescent heads on her hatchets. She wanted to shrug off the urge since she still didn’t plan on killing anyone, but it was so powerful she couldn’t ignore it. She wasn’t sure why she had this feeling, but if the Entity was going to let her in a trial after this long, this may be her last chance. She didn’t know what the Entity had planned for her after this. She did not plan to betray Mariya and give in to killing, but in the mere interest of appeasing her anxiety, she picked up the old glass-like heads and an infantry belt to pair with them. The hatchets felt bulky and awkward in her hands; she hadn’t wielded them since Mariya was brought here.

She had a bad feeling, but something deep in her gut was telling her to do this. She could still choose not to use them, after all.

She arrived in the realm and started shuffling around the map, still very dazed and confused and trying to find her footing. She passed by the first generator when she soon heard grass crunching behind her. The killer snapped her head in the direction of the noise and stood still. Someone was there.

“Come on out,” she said, finding that the English sounded strange past her tongue.

A male survivor cautiously stepped out from behind a tree, knowing he had already been found but hesitant to show himself. Ace.

She scowled at him, gripping the broad axe in her hands so tightly that her knuckles turned sheet white, but she made no attempt to harm him.

“Where is Mariya?” she demanded, placing emphasis on each word.

Ace flinched a bit at her harshness and took a few steps back. “I don’t know. I haven’t really seen her that much,” he said softly. He was looking up at her like he was a child that was being scolded for being bad, but he averted his eyes under her intense glare.

She turned to walk away from him.

“Wait!” he called.

She stopped in her tracks but did not turn to face him.

“She wanted us to tell you that she was okay if we saw you.”

Anna straightened her posture and dropped her tensed shoulders, and only then did she slowly turn to look at him. She had loosened her grip on her axe. She was alive, then? Her heart squeezed at his words. She was wagering on the fact that it would be true, but still kept her guard up. She couldn’t be absolutely sure until she physically saw Mariya. If he was toying with her, she wouldn’t refuse to butcher him like an animal again.

He continued, “I am so sorry about what I did… It was incredibly selfish, and I was a real asshole. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I just wanted to tell you...”

“Hmpf,” she spat. Her eyes gazed towards the ground for a bit while she distractedly swayed back and forth, humming her lullaby softly to herself, if not a bit incoherently. She then looked back up at him and cocked her head to one side. “Durak,” she mumbled angrily.

He pulled his head back in surprise. “Uh, I don’t know what you just said, but yeah.” Was that an insult? Either way, Ace was afraid of her. She seemed a bit mentally unstable, but at least she didn’t seem to plan on harming him for the time being.

“Nakhozhú yeye,” she mumbled while looking away from him again, gazing into the fields and still swaying her body.

“Um, what are you saying?” Ace was genuinely confused and more than a little unnerved at her behavior.

She glanced down at him, seeming to just realize that he was still standing there.

“Find her,” she repeated. “I need to find her.” She turned and walked away from him, heading towards the nearest generator that she could see.

Anna came across the other two survivors first. None of them knew where she was, but all of them told her that Mariya was fine. She blatantly ignored the voices in her head demanding her to feed the Entity – she knew she would probably never be let out of that horrid realm again if she didn’t kill this time, but she needed to know if Mariya was in this trial first. Anna couldn’t be bothered to waste time chasing after other survivors when she could be searching for her so that they could talk, and she wasn’t going to do anything until then. Every second of this trial was precious, and she was growing impatient. She carried on to the only place that she had not checked yet, desperation and blind hope fueling her.

 

*****  
Mariya was just about finished with her generator when she heard her lullaby. Her heart froze in place, and she sprung up from her crouched position so quickly that she almost tripped over her own two feet. Her eyes wildly looked around to find where the humming was coming from, but it wasn’t directional. Anna’s lullaby was everywhere. The offering must have worked, but she didn’t see her.

“Anna!” she called out, instead, hoping for a response that would confirm that she wasn’t just hearing things. The humming stopped. Soon enough, she saw a familiar form quickly appear around the corner of the wall and come to a screeching halt.

There was a large intake of breath before The Huntress found her voice. “Mariya!” Anna smiled and tossed her main weapon to the ground as she ran over to her, picking the survivor up in a tight bear hug and spinning around in a few circles. She sat her back down carefully and kneeled to the ground, holding her close and not loosening her grip.

Mariya returned her hug, further entangling herself in Anna’s presence. It was she who broke the hug first, and she immediately threaded her fingers through Anna’s short hair and heavily leaned against her as they pressed their lips together with fiery intensity.

“You’re okay!” Anna said, cupping Mariya’s face and smiling gratefully through her tears. Relief washed over her as her anxiety dissipated. She was right to hold on to her hope so tightly.

“Of course I am! I told you it wasn’t real!” she said as she grabbed ahold of Anna’s hands and pressed her soft lips to Anna’s mask where her forehead was. They were both still alive.

Anna giggled a bit. They kissed a few more times then rested their foreheads together.

“I missed you so much, my love. My heart aches for you.” Anna suddenly sounded so drained as she said this, and she lost all of the held tension in her body as she breathed it all out. Exhaustion overcame her body; she used up all of her adrenaline searching for her.

“I missed you, too! Are you okay?” Mariya leaned back slightly to peer into her eyes, just now seeing how much pain they held. Her eyes were almost dull and glassy, and the expression looking back at her was that of someone who wasn’t entirely there; someone disconnected from their surroundings. It sent sharp pangs up Mariya’s chest, and she couldn’t help but to feel incredibly guilty. Mariya averted her eyes, but with next look she took, a small light behind her eyes became noticeable to her. Anna was extremely out of it and not acting like herself, but she was still there. There was still life there.

“I am okay now. Don’t worry about me,” Anna murmured, giving a soft squeeze of her reassurance at her survivor’s hips. She abruptly became very worn out, but she was still smiling dotingly at her lover.

“How can I not worry about you, silly! You’ve been put through hell because of me.” Mariya quickly wiped her face on her shirt, trying to stifle tears that were threatening to fall down, but more ended up flowing out. She wished she could take away all of Anna’s pain.

Anna reached up to wipe away her tears with a single thumb, then pushed her long, dark hair behind her ears. “It’s been very hard, but I can see the effect on the Entity. I still have a feeling it will work. And don’t blame yourself, Mariya, I agreed to it. But I have to talk to you”

The unexpected sound of the exit gates being powered startled both of them.

Before either of them could react, the realm shook violently. Several large, swelling black clouds appeared in the sky, cascading over every bit of the realm with its darkness. From them, several pitch black, spider-like tendrils came out of the fog, twitching and making grasping motions. They quickly moved down and curled themselves around every survivor, as well as wrapping around The Huntress several times.

They moved to grab each other’s hand, but the tendrils pulled them apart as they were lifted up and out of the realm. They were eventually absorbed by the black clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> durak - fool/idiot
> 
> Apologies if these translations are incorrect!


End file.
